Michael B. Jordan Developing A Val-Zod Superman Series For HBO MAX?

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A few months back, we found out that there was a new Superman film coming, and that it’d likely feature a Black Superman. Now there’s word of another Black Superman project being developed. While the aforementioned film is being steered by J.J. Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates (with no director onboard just yet), this new project would be coming from Michael B. Jordan and is intended for HBO Max.

According to Collider, Jordan’s Outlier Society is in the early stages of developing a series about the Val-Zod Superman from the comics.

Val-Zod exists in Earth 2, and is the second Kryptonian to take on the mantle of Superman in the comics. Here’s a little more about his origin:

On Earth-2, the Zod family came from an island named Vathlo, where black-skinned Kryptonians lived. Val was an only child. When his parents tried to “speak the truth to power”, they were punished for it and sent to death. Lara and Jor-El took Val in and treated him like be was their child. He became close friends with another orphan, Kara-Zor-El. When Krypton was about to die, Lara and Jor-El launched four Kryptonian ships which managed to escape the planet. One contained Kal-El, another contained Kara-Zor El, and another contained Val-Zod. (The last Kryptonian is unknown). Inside the pod Val’s mind was given the knowledge of his parents.
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Of note in Collider’s exclusive report is the claim that Jordan is developing this project because he’d rather tell a story that focuses on the Val-Zod Superman, who’s always been portrayed as Black, rather than race-bending Clark Kent- which is what the upcoming reboot from J.J. Abrams is rumored to be doing. The site notes that Jordan’s aware of the potential backlash of such a decision, and has decided he’d rather stay away from that polarizing situation.

The intention for the project is for it to run as a limited series.

We’ll be sure to update you with more on this as it develops!

SOURCE: Collider