J.J. Abrams & Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Superman Project is Still Happening

James Gunn has directly addressed the Superman project being developed by Star Trek director J.J. Abrams and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, which will introduce a Black actor as Superman. While there have been many projects side-lined for Gunn’s incoming DCU, it seems that the Elseworlds project is certainly not one of them.

Gunn responded to a post on Threads, in which he was directly asked if the long-in-development project was still on the cards. In a straight-up and short response, the DC Studios co-CEO simply said:

The last update on the project was back in 2022, when it was revealed that the project would not be impacted by the DCU overhaul and that Coates was “still working on the script.” Although it is hard to tell how far along that script or any other development on the movie is, it seems that the project is still on course in some fashion.

Announced back in 2021, very few details have been revealed regarding what Abrams and Coates have planned for the Man of Steel. What we do know is that the project will introduce a Black actor as the comic book icon. It has been speculated that the Superman project will introduce a new, different version of Kal-El, “crafting a Kal-El in the vein of the original Superman comics and will have the protagonist hail from Krypton and come to Earth,” with further claims revealing that the project will be “a 20th century period piece.”

The movie will take place outside of the DCU, much like director Matt Reeves’ The Batman, meaning that, whatever Gunn and Peter Safran have planned for Clark Kent in Superman: Legacy, it will not be effected by whatever Abrams has in store.

Superman is All Change at DC Studios

Despite appearing in a much-hyped cameo at the end of Black Adam, Man of Steel star Henry Cavill has officially hung up the cape for good. Although it took a long while for fans to come to terms with this, it seems that Cavill has moved on and everyone else needs to do the same.

This will happen first with Superman: Legacy, the first live-action movie of the new DCU, which will see David Corenswet donning the cape and bringing the newest iteration of the last son of Krypton to the big screen. This will not only be a test for the world of DC Comics after a horrendous run of box office failures in 2023, but for Gunn’s ability to bring his Midas touch to the franchise and breathe life into the world of comic book movies.

So, with Abrams and Coates’ Superman project also still somewhere on the horizon, there are still plenty of new and exciting adventures to come for the Man of Steel. Whether fans will be on board with these new iterations is something that we will begin to find out in 2025 when Superman: Legacy finally gets the chance to soar. Abrams and Coates’ movie does not have an expected release window.