While talking to i09, James Gunn addressed the movie plans for Val Zod’s Black Superman. The movie has been in the works since 2021 and is being written by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
There were lots of rumors that Michael B. Jordan could be playing the role but he was surprised to hear about those rumors but he also felt that representation is important and that it’s good that people want to see more black leads. But we might not get news about its casting and production for a while. James Gunn’s own Superman: Legacy movie is in the works right now and will start production in 2024, and will release in 2025, so it might take a while before we actually see Val Zod’s movie.
“Those two things are totally unrelated. That’s an exciting movie. I know that Chantal Nong, who is the executive on that project, is extremely excited about it. So if it comes in and it’s great, which I haven’t read the script, and if the timing is right, that could absolutely happen. That’s totally unrelated. It would be an Elseworlds tale like ‘Joker.'”
This was James confirming that the movie will exist as an Elseworlds tale, outside the DCU just like The Joker movie series, and Robert Pattinson’s The Batman. The movie will be produced by JJ Abrams and Bad Robot.