\n<\/p>\n
Back in 2021, it was reported<\/a> that We Were Eight Years in Power<\/em> author Ta-Nehisi Coates was penning a new Superman <\/em>script described as<\/a> \u201ca 20th century period piece\u201d that would revolve around a Black version of the Man of Steel. While details about the project were thin at the time, J.J. Abrams being attached as a producer lent credence to the idea that it might actually come to fruition and be part of Warner Bros.\u2019 (Discovery wasn\u2019t part of the picture just yet) vision for the DCEU\u2019s complicated future<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Between the Warner Bros. Discovery merger<\/a>, the company\u2019s internal reorganization<\/a>, and the debut of the new DC Studios, it made sense that Gunn and co. wanted to kick off their era of IP stewardship with projects they developed. But according to Gunn, in the same way that Matt Reeves\u2019 Batman<\/em><\/a> <\/em>and Todd Phillips\u2019 Joker<\/em><\/a> <\/em>films have been able to co-exist in their own respective continuities outside of the studio\u2019s primary cinematic universe, something similar could be worked out for Coates and Abrams\u2019 Superman if the circumstances are right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a recent interview with io9<\/em><\/a>, Gunn explained that despite their being based on the same character, Superman: Legacy <\/em>and Coates and Abrams\u2019 would-be film \u201care totally unrelated,\u201d but he described the project as \u201can exciting movie\u201d from what he\u2019s heard internally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI know that Chantal Nong, who is the executive on that project, is extremely excited about it,\u201d Gunn said. \u201cSo if it comes in and it\u2019s great, which I haven\u2019t read the script, and if the timing is right, that could absolutely happen. That\u2019s totally unrelated. It would be an Elseworlds tale like Joker<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gunn\u2019s \u201cif\u201ds and the fact that he hasn\u2019t read the script yet don\u2019t exactly inspire the most confidence that there\u2019s real momentum behind the Black Superman film coming together.\u00a0 But his explicitly name-dropping the \u201cElseworlds\u201d imprint \u2014 DC\u2019s comics set in far-flung continuities and realities \u2014 at a time when the studio\u2019s going all in on the multiverse by way of The Flash <\/em>feels noteworthy because of what it could port for DC Studios\u2019 going forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Up until this point, DC\u2019s really just relied on fans to figure out for themselves which of its movies are meant to be canonical and which aren\u2019t. But establishing an Elseworlds film presence could be a way for the studio to more effectively telegraph to audiences how things like Joker: Folie \u00e0 Deux <\/em>and Max\u2019s The Penguin <\/em>show are supposed to fit into the picture alongside the new Robert Pattinson-free Batman <\/em>movie<\/a> DC is also working on. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Elseworlds movies could also be a way for The Rock<\/a> and Henry Cavill<\/a> to reprise their roles as Black Adam and Clark Kent the way they\u2019ve implied might happen, but if that ends up being the case, one hopes that Coates and Abrams\u2019 Superman ends up on the production slate as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n