Draft:Untitled Black-led Superman film

The untitled Black-led Superman film is an upcoming American superhero film based on DC Comics featuring the character Superman. Produced by DC Studios and Bad Robot Productions, and set for distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is intended to be a reboot of the Superman film franchise. The film is being written by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Development on a sequel to the film Man of Steel (2013) began by October 2014, with Henry Cavill expected to reprise his role as Clark Kent / Superman, but Warner Bros.' plans for the property changed after the troubled production of Justice League (2017). The Man of Steel sequel was no longer moving forward by May 2020, and Coates was hired in February 2021 to write a new Superman film starring a Black version of the character set in a standalone continuity.

Cast

 * Kal-El / Superman

Background
Warner Bros. Pictures announced release dates for a full slate of DC Comics-based films in October 2014, forming a new shared universe known as the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). At the same time, the company said that an un-dated Superman film was in development, with Henry Cavill set to reprise his role of Clark Kent / Superman from Man of Steel (2013). Warner Bros. chose to prioritize Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) as the second DCEU film after Man of Steel failed to meet the company's financial expectations, despite turning a profit. Director Zack Snyder said that Brainiac and the Kryptonians imprisoned in the Phantom Zone were considered as antagonists for the Man of Steel sequel before Warner Bros. decided to proceed with Batman v Superman. In November 2016, Amy Adams, who portrayed Lois Lane in Man of Steel, said the studio was working on a screenplay for the sequel. Matthew Vaughn was Warner Bros.' top choice to direct the film, and he had preliminary conversations about the project by March 2017. Vaughn had previously pitched an idea for a new Superman trilogy with comic book writer Mark Millar, prior to the development of Man of Steel, in which the destruction of the planet Krypton would not take place until after Superman had already grown-up on the planet. After the troubled production of the DCEU film Justice League (2017), Warner Bros. re-thought its approach to DC projects. By the end of 2017, a Man of Steel sequel was not coming "anytime soon, if at all". Justice League producer Charles Roven said story ideas for the film had been discussed, but there was no script.

Before the release of Mission: Impossible – Fallout in July 2018, director Christopher McQuarrie and co-star Cavill pitched their take on a new Superman film, but Warner Bros. did not pursue the idea. Later in 2018, the studio asked James Gunn to write and direct a Superman film, but he chose to make The Suicide Squad (2021) instead. In September, negotiations for Cavill to reprise his role for a cameo appearance in Shazam! (2019) ended due to contract issues, as well as a scheduling conflict with Cavill's Fallout commitments. The actor was reported to be parting ways with the studio, with no plans for him to reprise his role in future projects, but, in November 2019, Cavill said that he had not given up on the character and still wanted to do the role justice. At that time, Warner Bros. was unsure which direction to take the character and was talking to "high-profile talent" about the property, including J. J. Abrams—whose company Bad Robot Productions signed an overall deal with Warner Bros.' parent company WarnerMedia—and Michael B. Jordan, who pitched himself as a Black version of the character but was unwilling to commit to a film due to his busy schedule. By May 2020, Warner Bros. was no longer developing a Man of Steel sequel, but Cavill was in talks to appear in a different future DC film.

Development
In February 2021, Ta-Nehisi Coates was revealed to be writing a new Superman film for the DCEU that was in early development. Abrams was set as producer alongside Hannah Minghella, with no director or actors attached to the project yet. The film was expected to feature a Black actor portraying Superman, with the potential for Jordan to still take on the role. Coates said he was looking forward to "meaningfully adding to the legacy of America's most iconic mythic hero", while Abrams said the film would tell a "new, powerful and moving Superman story". This was reported by outlets as being a reboot of the franchise, but Richard Newby of The Hollywood Reporter felt the film starring a Black actor could indicate a new version of Superman that could exist alongside Cavill's portrayal within the DC Multiverse. Newby also noted that Coates' history as a non-fiction author and journalist focusing on African-American issues would give him "the insight and experience to delve further into the [Superman] mythos in a way never seen on screen".

Jordan said at the end of April that suggestions he star in the film were a compliment, but he would not be signing on to the role. The studio was in the early process of finding a director for the film at that point, and had committed to hiring a Black filmmaker for the project. They had met with potential directors by early May, working from a list that included Steven Caple Jr., J. D. Dillard, Regina King, and Shaka King; Dillard later said that he had not been approached for the film. Coates was not expected to deliver his script for the film until mid-December, and was believed to be introducing a new version of Kal-El / Superman in what was potentially a 20th century period piece. The film was believed to be set in a separate universe from the DCEU at that point. In July, Jordan's reasoning for distancing himself from the film was reported to be due to the decision to portray Kal-El as Black rather than introduce a different Superman character that is already portrayed as Black in the comics such as Calvin Ellis or Val-Zod. This was seen by some as racebending a white character while "erasing" existing Black characters, a conversation that Jordan did not want to engage in. Instead, he began developing a limited series for HBO Max focused on the Val-Zod version of the character.

By April 2022, Coates was expected to turn in a draft of his script around the end of May, and the film was revealed in October to take place in a separate continuity from other DC franchises, similar to Joker (2019). After James Gunn and Peter Safran became the co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios the following month, Gunn announced in December that he was writing a new Superman film, which became Superman (2025) and was revealed in January 2023 as the first film in DC Studios' new franchise, the DC Universe (DCU). When announcing the first projects for the DCU then, Gunn said any project that did not fit into the DCU's shared universe would be labeled as "DC Elseworlds" moving forward. This is the same as how DC Comics uses the Elseworlds imprint to mark comic books that are separate from the main continuity. Coates' film was expected to use this label while Gunn and Safran were waiting for Coates to deliver his draft. Gunn reiterated this in April when he confirmed the film would use the Elseworlds label, was unrelated to Superman, and that DC Studios executive Chantal Nong was overseeing the production. He reaffirmed the film's development in January 2024.