Michael B. Jordan to produce ‘Black Superman’ series on HBO Max

According to Collider, Outlier Society has hired a writer for the script, with sources confirming that the project is currently being written as a limited series. Jordan will produce the project, but has yet to confirm whether he will star in the series.

JJ Abrams and production company Bad Robot are currently working on their own movie for Warner Brothers that centers on the Kal-El/Clark Kent version of the character. Although typically depicted as white, a black actor will play the superhero lead, with the direction likely coming from a Black filmmaker, according to the Collider exclusive.

While Jordan was rumored to be playing the lead in that movie, he stated: "I'm flattered that people have me in that conversation. It’s definitely a compliment, but I’m just watching on this one."

According to an editorial written by Jamie Broadnax for Black Girl Nerds, sources told her that "Jordan has not wanted to engage in conversations about racebending Kal-El for the same reasons many of the fans are pushing back on the current Warner Bros. re-imagined version of Clark Kent, but that he would be interested in engaging on a Black Superman project centering on the Val-Zod storyline." Broadnax wrote that it would be tone-deaf of Warner Brothers and DC to "racebend a white character and erase Black characters that already exist in the DC universe under the Superman banner — Calvin Ellis and Val-Zod."

According to Collider, "Val-Zod is the Superman from Earth 2, where he is one of the last Kryptonians, and the second to assume the mantle of Superman. The character was orphaned after his parents were executed by Krypton's high court, though he was found on Earth 2 by Terry Sloan, who offered the young alien asylum to 'protect' him from the outside world. [Calvin] Ellis, on the other hand, is the Superman of Earth 23, where he is the President of the United States."