The Daily Planet - Superman News and Speculation Thread

[Prison Mike]

Yeah I just don’t know if the general audience is interested in seeing a Clark Kent that is constantly encountering racism. They have to show something uplifting. One of the big criticisms about MOS was that it was morose and too serious and wasn’t the light hearted fare that the Christopher Reeve movies were. Maybe that’s why it didn’t make as much money as a Superman movie should have. I’m really interested in seeing more details about this because it’s really going to depend on the execution of it all, how they handle the racism aspect so it doesn’t feel like a lecture to the audience. I mean I look forward to a Black Superman either way but they have to get it right.

 

[Marvel united]

Anybody else think Rick Famuyiwa would be perfect for this film? I know his Flash pass was rejected for being too race conscious.. But as the second gen son of Nigerian immigrants, I think Rick would have an interesting POV to bring to this story

 

[Frodo]

Yeah I just don’t know if the general audience is interested in seeing a Clark Kent that is constantly encountering racism. They have to show something uplifting. One of the big criticisms about MOS was that it was morose and too serious and wasn’t the light hearted fare that the Christopher Reeve movies were. Maybe that’s why it didn’t make as much money as a Superman movie should have. I’m really interested in seeing more details about this because it’s really going to depend on the execution of it all, how they handle the racism aspect so it doesn’t feel like a lecture to the audience. I mean I look forward to a Black Superman either way but they have to get it right.

The General audience is made up of people of all a variety of races including Black, White, Asian , Hispanic , and dealing with a Black superman who encounters racism, and is hopeful, aren't mutually exclusive. You can do both, and both have been done on film for decades. The general audience overall will be fine and embrace the film as long as its good.

Obviously, they'll be people who can't except a Black Superman, but if that's the case, alot of them won't see the movie anyway if its angers them that much. Then again, alot of them will probably end up in one way or another seeing the film.

Yes ,execution matters, but the same holds true with a White Superman as well as a Black one, so that's nothing new. That goes for all superhero films in general and is not a new standard.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Anybody else think Rick Famuyiwa would be perfect for this film? I know his Flash pass was rejected for being too race conscious.. But as the second gen son of Nigerian immigrants, I think Rick would have an interesting POV to bring to this story

Could be interesting for sure.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Rick Famuyiwa is my number one choice. His episodes of Mandalorian recently have had a depth the show generally lacks otherwise.

 

[Boom]

Jordan Peele
Michael B. Jordan
Regina King
Rick Famuyiwa
Spike Lee

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Steven Caple Jr I have my eye on, his work on Creed II deserved more love.

Famuyiwa and Regina King are my two top choices though.

 

[Detective Conan]

Shaka King who directed Judas And The Black Messiah would likely fit this apparent take that Coates and Abrams wants to do like a glove.

 

[KaijuDude1992]

I've been wanting to see what Rick Famuyiwa could do with a superhero movie for a while now and if they are really going the black Superman route I definitely think he would be a great choice to direct it.

I love what he has brought to The Mandalorian and the man just seems to know and understand black culture with films like Dope, Brown Sugar and The Wood which are all classics IMO.

 

[Vaibow]

Kinda feels like they wanna pick up where black panther tragically left off...

 

[The Batman]

A black actor as Clark Kent could be interesting. My chief concern is I want this to be about Clark Kent/Kal-El. As long as the characterization is good, the screen play and directing are good and the actor embodies the character well, open casting should be considered. It's not visually what we are used to, but as long as it's Clark, I can roll with it and give it a chance. It may turn out great.

If it's a character other than Clark, I'd be way less enthused.

Also the creative team behind is giving me bad vibes. Even if it was partially out of his hands, Abrams' last film was a disaster. I'm not familiar with Coates writing, but what I hear of his Black Panther run doesn't fill me with confidence. I hope he doesn't have Superman ignoring rape camps like he had T'Challa do.

Yeah, I was excited about this until I read posts from diehard Black Panther fans describing how Coates made T'Challa look like trash.

 

[The Batman]

A black Clark Kent would just profit off of the history of the character rather than making a statement that there can be a successful black Superman that stands on his own as an original character.

People say this as if Calvin Ellis and Val Zod aren't already profiting off of the history of the character.

Let's not pretend that Calvin and Val are original characters the same way Icon is. Much like a race swapped Clark Kent, they benefit from being the black version of an iconic hero.

 

[The Guard]

Regardless of whether Superman is black in this or not, I think we’re almost certainly getting themes of race and class inequality and oppression. And I think that makes perfect sense in relation to Superman.

Heavy focus on Clark as a reporter, dealing with the marginalized, the oppressed? Or Calvin Ellis, the politican…dealing with the marginalized, the oppressed. Themes of not just racial, but class injustice and conflict. That’s…that’s the core of Superman. And the idea of being one of them without really being one of them. Having to decide how to judiciously use your power to better lives.

The bold move would be to have a white, status quo Superman confronting the reasons he can’t/won’t seek groundbreaking changes in the status quo. As it is, it will probably be a meditation on the use of power in some capacity.

I do think they can do better than Michael B. Jordan, though. He’s a solid actor, but somewhat overexposed. Give us another relative unknown.

Feels a bit like a multiverse move, but can probably stand on its own.

Until we know more, I dub it SUPERMAN VS THE MAN

 

[Nemeres]

I think what's gonna get them the highest amount of interest is keeping it the Clark Kent story and I think they know that. Calvin Ellis means sending audiences on Google quests. Clark Kent is what's gonna get that double take they're aiming for.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

I really want this to be first and foremost a journalistic thriller.

 

[Boy Scout]

Would you keep Ma and Pa Kent white? That would make for an interesting dynamic as well.

I’d definitely keep them white.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I think this might be a first when both producer and scriptwriter for a comicbook movie wrote comics for a rival comicbook company.

I really want this to be first and foremost a journalistic thriller.

I've got the feeling this will take more notes from Birthright. This thought makes it more exciting cause both Birthright and the first 6 issues of 2018 Captain America were drawn by Leinel Francis Yu.

 

[SiegePerilous]

Yeah, I was excited about this until I read posts from diehard Black Panther fans describing how Coates made T'Challa look like trash.

They want the Black Panther money, but it seems a lot of what made the BP movie a hit didn't make it into his comic run. And the complaints that were present for Synder's Superman, that he was ineffectual and being deconstructed, and the plot was boring, are complaints applied to Coates's writing of T'Challa.

The more I read up on it, the more the complaints of Wakanda being undermined resemble the New 52 take on the Amazons not advancing past the bronze age and unsympathetic misandrist murderers.

People say this as if Calvin Ellis and Val Zod aren't already profiting off of the history of the character.

Let's not pretend that Calvin and Val are original characters the same way Icon is. Much like a race swapped Clark Kent, they benefit from being the black version of an iconic hero.

Icon is a new take on the same archetype established by Superman, but he is is own thing and stands alone. Even looking at other black heroes within the Super mtyhos, neither Calvin or Val are as important to the Super mythos as Steel is. Val-Zod in particular is mostly tied to an ancillary title (Earth-2) that ran out of steam and died. I can't really view WB spending money on a big budgeted reboot on two essentially very minor characters after 80 years of Clark Kent being cemented into popular consciousness. It'd make more sense to just cast a black actor as Clark. Wouldn't a lot of aspiring black actors want to take a crack at the real deal? Or, considering the casting of a Latina Supergirl, maybe we'll get a Latino Superman?

This would be (needlessly) controversial enough, and they've already had a controversial take on Superman. I know WB can be very stupid, but I'd hope they wouldn't be that stupid to invite controversy for centering a big budget movie around some comic characters whose cumulative appearances aren't really even in the triple digits?

 

[Marvel united]

Would you keep Ma and Pa Kent white? That would make for an interesting dynamic as well.

While I'd be completely ok with Jonathan and Martha being black, I think them being white makes things a little bit more interesting. Not only are they raising a black man in middle-America as white parents (where he will undoubtedly face racism), they are raising a Black man who can move mountains with his bare hands.

I think there's something very interesting to explore there

 

[Sorath]

Because Calvin Ellis is a blank slate. Calvin only has a few appearance in the comics so you can really do anything with him. However as I said before DC should be giving him his own solo comic before the movie.

Look I'm not gone beat around the bush about this and I don't want any one taking this as me being racist cause I'm not. However the fact is for 80 something years Superman has been generally white. As you have said Calvin Ellis has only made a few appearance in comics. This means vast majority of the people in world don't know that there is a universe where there is a black Superman.

So this is what is going to happen the minute you do a black superman with out any context of a multiverse. The minute people see the first trailer with black Superman people are gone go that's is stupid Superman isn't black. Lets be fair there not wrong at least not from their point of view.

I'ven talked to few black people even said doing Superman as black person would be done because Superman has always been traditionally white.

Now if you introduce him in to the Flash and that he part of a multiverse where in one universe there is a black superman the public would get it and accept it.

 

[WatchProtect]

If people's first reaction to a Superman trailer is "He's black? That's stupid" then I doubt anything is going to convince them otherwise, and they're definitely not right, even if that is their opinion.

Superman is a friend when you have no one else, a shining light in the dark, a man who can stand the weight of the world so that others dont have to. If anyone thinks that him being Black contradicts any of those things listed then it's a deeper problem.

 

[Sorath]

The General audience is made up of people of all a variety of races including Black, White, Asian , Hispanic , and dealing with a Black superman who encounters racism, and is hopeful, aren't mutually exclusive. You can do both, and both have been done on film for decades. The general audience overall will be fine and embrace the film as long as its good.

Obviously, they'll be people who can't except a Black Superman, but if that's the case, alot of them won't see the movie anyway if its angers them that much. Then again, alot of them will probably end up in one way or another seeing the film.

Yes ,execution matters, but the same holds true with a White Superman as well as a Black one, so that's nothing new. That goes for all superhero films in general and is not a new standard.

See I disagree with you. I think if you just randomly drop a black Superman film its going to leave a lot of people scratching their collective heads and thinking "But Superman is white.". Hence why said if WB really wants to do a black Superman film they need to introduce him in to the Flash film and establish that there is a universe where Superman is black. If you do that then yes I think people would be willing to see a black Superman. However it all hinders on people actually see the Flash movie which I don't think will do that well.

I guess will see what happens. My gut feeling tells me if they just randomly drop a black Superman down it's going to do very badly.

 

[Dark Raven]

Mechad Brooks as Black Superman!

 

[Sorath]

If people's first reaction to a Superman trailer is "He's black? That's stupid" then I doubt anything is going to convince them otherwise, and they're definitely not right, even if that is their opinion.

Superman is a friend when you have no one else, a shining light in the dark, a man who can stand the weight of the world so that others dont have to. If anyone thinks that him being Black contradicts any of those things listed then it's a deeper problem.

The problem is that you have 80 years of comic book history. In that time the general public (who don't read comics and are not well versed in them) are unaware their is a black Superman in comics. It's not like Nick Fury or Perry White. This is Superman one most iconic Super heroes to ever be made. So to suddenly shift him from white to black is going to make a lot people scratch there heads and ask why? Lot of people are going to think that is stupid. Heck I've talked to black people who have said making Superman black would be stupid and nothing more then a statement.

Hell Will Smith was offered the role of Superman and turned it down even though he was interested because he knew it was a bad idea. It's not necessary a bad idea it just needs to be done in the right way. Just randomly dropping a black Superman film is going to end badly. However if you establish him in The Flash film first it sets it up in minds of the audience and allows them to get behind it and go "okay so there a black Superman in the multiverse".

 

[WatchProtect]

The problem is that you have 80 years of comic book history. In that time the general public (who don't read comics and are not well versed in them) are unaware their is a black Superman in comics. It's not like Nick Fury or Perry White. This is Superman one most iconic Super heroes to ever be made. So to suddenly shift him from white to black is going to make a lot people scratch there heads and ask why? Lot of people are going to think that is stupid. Heck I've talked to black people who have said making Superman black would be stupid and nothing more then a statement.

Hell Will Smith was offered the role of Superman and turned it down even though he was interested because he knew it was a bad idea. It's not necessary a bad idea it just needs to be done in the right way. Just randomly dropping a black Superman film is going to end badly. However if you establish him in The Flash film first it sets it up in minds of the audience and allows them to get behind it and go "okay so there a black Superman in the multiverse".

If their problem is a Black Superman then him being from the Multiverse isn't going to make people happy. They want a white Superman and they're getting something else that's their problem.

If Superman being black is what determines them seeing the movie then I dont really care about them. For every one of them that wont see the movie there will be someone who will.

I'm a black Man aswell, so I dont see the point of saying "My black friends dont like it either, that proves it's a bad idea." Superman wears a blue suit with a red cape, and an S on his chest.
Seeing a white face and hands has never been what makes Superman recognizable and that's not what makes him Superman.

It's his personality, his ability to be a good Man first, instead of a helpful God. If he's Black, white, Hispanic, asian, doesn't matter. He can be any color and if he keeps the same core principles, he's Superman.

Also, you completely misinterpreted why Will Smith said he didn't wanna do it. It had nothing to do with the execution, it was because he didn't wanna do another Race Swap character after WWW because of the unnecessary backlash he faced. No idea he was presented with would have changed that.