Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Movies, Superman, Superman, Warner Bros | Tagged: black superman, Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates' Black Superman Film Cancelled For Being "Too Woke"

According to the Wall Street Journal, Warner Bros. reportedly canceled Ta-Nehisi Coates and J.J. Abrams' Black Superman film because it was "too woke."

The Wall Street Journal, in an article on the new Superman film and Warner Bros. in general, reports, "around the same time in 2022, Zaslav was exploring how to fix DC. He dismissed as too woke a script being written by Ta-Nehisi Coates about a Black Superman in the civil rights era, according to people familiar with the matter. Gunn and Safran could still try to make the movie in the future, some of the people added."

Back in 2021, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Ta-Nehisi Nehisi-Coates would join JJ Abrams in creating a new Superman movie for Warner Bros. that would feature a Black Superman. Obviously, that did not happen. But it did cause a lot of fuss on eBay regarding those comics that did indeed feature a Black Superman.

Final Crisis #7 featured the first appearance of Calvin Ellis, created by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke, who in his own world is a black Superman President Of The United States. Final Crisis #7 CGC 9.8 sold for $600, or $157 raw, a comic that was selling for $3 a week ago. Action Comics #9, which features the character on the cover, has sold CGC 9.8 at $200 or $99 raw.

While Val-Zod is the Superman of Earth-2, created by Tom Taylor, Nicola Scott, and Robson Rocha. His first cameo appearance in Earth 2 #19 has sold for $200 CGC 9.8 and $30 raw. His full appearance (and on the cover) in Earth 2 #25 has sold CGC 9.8 for $200 or $25 raw.

A third candidate was Tangent Superman, the Superman of another dimension, originally a human man named Harvey Dent. Created by Jupiter's Legacy's Mark Millar and Jackson Guice. He became dark and vengeful, taking over the world, not allowing any freedom of thought. Tangent: Superman #1 is selling for around $2 if you're lucky.

There was also Marv Wolfman and Paul Ryan's Superman of Earth D from Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths, where both Superman and Supergirl are Black.

And, well, this Superman died. Not that this means much these days. And copies had been selling for around $20 on eBay.

And then there was Grant Morrison's first attempt with Chas Doug in Animal Man #23, for the Silver Age pastiche character Sunshine Superman – along with others.

And as for black Kryptonians, there was also the famous misstep. When DC Comics decided to get a bit more aware of racial concerns in the 70s, they wanted to explain why no one had seen a black Kryptonian. And so concocted a tale of an isolated island called Valtho Island on Krypton where all the Kryptonians lived. Yeah. So most folk tried to ignore it. An offhand reference to the island was made in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' continuity-rich dream Superman story For the Man Who Has Everything, in Superman Annual #11, regarding "racial trouble with the Vathlo Island immigrants."

A black Kryptonian named Iph-Ro of Vathlo appeared in Superman: The Man of Steel #111. Of late, DC has just shown black integrated Kyrptonians along with the rest of the world who resemble humanity. And Calvin Ellis, President Superman was said to originate from Vathlo Island of his reality's Krypton.

But DC Comics already published another comic with a "black Superman" archetype, Icon, part of the Milestone line. He's an alien who originally looked very different from humans, but his escape pod that landed on Earth programmed to shapeshift him to look like the first sentient being that encountered him. The pod happened to land in the American South in 1839.

And he was integrated into the New History Of The DC Universe last month as well… and no one seemed to complain that any of these Supermen were "too woke"…

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