Warner Bros. Shelved Black Superman Film for Being “Too Woke”

It’s common for projects to be announced in Hollywood that never see the light of day. There is initial excitement surrounding a project, and sometimes that changes. Still, when high-profile names are involved, it can still be a bit shocking when certain projects don’t come together. Look no further than Warner Bros. Discovery’s Black Superman film from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, which was announced in 2021, with J.J. Abrams’ involvement. That name alone should indicate an automatic green light, but now it has been revealed why the period piece was given the axe by none other than WBD CEO David Zaslav.

According to a report featured in The Wall Street Journal, a screenplay written by Coates and produced by Abrams for a Black Superman film, was said to be “too woke” by Zaslav, which was why the project was ultimately canned. The film was meant to be a standalone period piece set during the American civil rights era. Despite the dismissal of the project, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has said that if timing permits and Coates has come up with a phenomenal screenplay, the project could “absolutely happen” and function as an “Elseworlds tale like Joker.”

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DC has established that the Elseworlds label will be used to tell stories that exist outside the new DC Universe, such as The Batman and its upcoming sequel, The Batman – Part II. It should also be noted that the canceled Superman project was in development before Warner Bros. merged with Discovery, which then put Zaslav in the driver’s seat for many of these decisions once the merger took place.

There Were Reportedly Two Black Superman Projects In Development

Calvin Ellis Black Superman (3) — DC Comics

There were actually two Black Superman projects in development at the same time. In addition to the Abrams and Coates’ film, there was a limited series intended for HBO Max that was in development under Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society production banner. The limited series was based on the character Val-Zod, an alternate version of Superman from Earth-2, and was intended to be written by Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters. This was another project that was in development before the merger that seemingly died once things were restructured with the company, resulting in Gunn and Peter Safran running things under DC Studios as co-CEOs.

While Jordan was promoting Creed III, the actor had to field many questions regarding rumors that he might be portraying the Black Superman for DC. This was during the time that Abrams and Coates’ film was still in development at the studio, and fans began taking to the internet to fan-cast Jordan in the role. As these rumors were taking shape, Jordan was interested in bringing the HBO Max limited series to life. It was never confirmed if the actor was interested in taking on the role, but, interestingly, both of these ideas ran alongside each other before getting shelved, with the former getting the too-commonly-used buzzword “woke” attached to it.

In the meantime, Warner Bros. and DC Studios can celebrate the release of Gunn’s Superman, which has garnered solid reviews and is likely headed for a stellar opening weekend. Maybe the potential success of this film will make them reevaluate some of those other Superman ideas that they initially dismissed or postponed.

Superman is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Source: The Wall Street Journal