Warner Bros’ Black Superman: Who Could Be Playing The Next Man Of Steel?

Warner Bros. is looking for the best actor to play the first-ever Black Superman.

The guessing game on who could be the Black actor who will be tapped to portray the next Man of Steel for the silver screen began as soon as Warner Bros. announced its plan to produce a new Superman film in February.

Michael B. Jordan, who has starred in “Fantastic Four,” “Creed” and “Black Panther,” already denied the rumors that he could be suiting up to be the next Superman in April. Speaking with the Hollywood Reporter at the time, the actor said he was flattered by the speculations, but he was not chosen to play the next Man of Steel.

“I’m flattered that people have me in that conversation. It’s definitely a compliment, but I’m just watching on this one,” he told the news outlet.

With Jordan’s denial of his involvement with the project, the Hollywood Reporter said Wednesday that the producers would most likely go for a relatively unknown star. This move would not be all that surprising considering the history of the previous Superman movies.

In 2006, Brandon Routh surprised many when he was chosen to star in Bryan Singer’s “Superman Returns.” Then in 2013, DC chose Henry Cavill to sport the iconic cape for Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel.” Both projects did not live up to expectations as the former only earned $391 million while the latter amassed $668 million at the box office.

With the success of James Wan’s “Aquaman” that raked in $1.15 billion and Todd Phillips’ “Joker” that nabbed $1.07 billion at the box office, Warner Bros.’ is doing its best to set a new tone for its future DC film ventures.

Story-wise, Warner Bros. has enlisted Ta-Nehisi Coates to pen the script, which is expected to be completed in mid-December. Screen Rant has learned the Coates is planning on making a story that would mirror the original comics, particularly Superman’s Kryptonian origins. However, it’s possible that the movie would be set in the modern world.

If Coates ends up writing a story about a Black Kal-El, this would be a letdown to some fans who were hoping to see any of the Black Superman characters from the comics. After all, the DC Comics multiverse has introduced Calvin Ellis and Val-Zod, two incarnations of Superman from two different worlds, in the past.

Ellis was made by comic book writer Grant Morrison and artist Doug Mahnke and was featured in the “Final Crisis” arc that ran from 2008 to 2009. On the other hand, the Black Kryptonian Val-Zod was introduced by writer Tom Taylor and artist Nicola Scott in 2014, as per the New York Times.