Warner Bros. and DC Comics are working on a new Superman film. Shadow and Act revealed the news on Friday morning. The site discovered Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing the Superman feature film. J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot will produce alongside Hannah Minghella. This upcoming movie is in early stages with no proposed release date or director yet. It’s not clear if this film will continue Henry Cavill‘s journey as Superman or if they’ll cast another actor in the role.
Coates provided a statement to Shadow and Act confirming the news. “To be invited into the DC Extended Universe by Warner Bros., DC Films and Bad Robot is an honor. I look forward to meaningfully adding to the legacy of America’s most iconic mythic hero.”
DC Comics
Both Abrams and Toby Emmerich, the chairman of Warner Bros. Picture Group, provided statements and confirmations as well.
The current DC film universe has portrayed a Superman darker in tone than the one typically seen in comics. Kal-El usually stands as a figure of optimism and justice. Coates’ experience as a journalist, author, and comic book writer (he had runs on Black Panther and Captain America) makes him well suited for the role of telling a Superman story. We’ll be curious to see if this tale about Clark Kent ties into anything else established in the current DC films or flies (see what we did there) completely solo.
I rather hope for the latter. If you’re going to release a new Superman movie, start from scratch and stay untethered. Bring in unexpected villains—not Lex Luthor. And much like Batman and Spider-Man, I’d be fine never seeing Superman’s origin story again.
Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of The Jedi Mind, available now. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
