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So there’s been quite a stir recently that Warner Bros. and DC Films and actor Henry Cavill have decided to part ways, with the studio failing to close a deal to have the Man of Steel star reprise his role as Superman in next year’s Shazam!, effectively closing the door on future appearances in the DC Extended Universe. I’ve rarely seen this kind of public airing of laundry between studios & talent before. I’ve never seen studios the size of Warner Bros. be cowed, particularly when the star is not an outright box office draw. Someone should have reminded Camp Cavill that no one is irreplaceable. Anywhere.
Superman will endeure without him.
Warner Bros. and Cavill’s reps issued responses downplaying the report but to my knowledge Warner walked away from the negotiating table. “Superman is like James Bond, and after a certain run you have to look at new actors,” and according to Deadline, one of the actors being looked at is Michael B. Jordan.
The trade reports that “Warner Bros. has been mulling a completely different direction with its Superman canon for some time, even considering casting Michael B. Jordan in the role down the road.”
Jordan is red-hot off his role as Killmonger in the successful Marvel blockbuster Black Panther, the Creed 1 & 2 Star unlike Cavil is a box office draw in his own right. Henry Cavill shared a cryptic video following rumours of Superman exit which looks like he’s done.
Jordan’s casting as Johnny Storm in the forgettable Fantastic 4 set off a “firestorm” of hate online, but Jordan was unfazed then and I suspect given the opportunity to be Big Blue in the DCEU? He’d jump at the chance! Jordan wrote in EW following the release of Fantastic Four. –
“Sometimes you have to be the person who stands up and says, ‘I’ll be the one to shoulder all this hate. I’ll take the brunt for the next couple of generations,’”
I put that responsibility on myself. People are always going to see each other in terms of race, but maybe in the future we won’t talk about it as much. Maybe, if I set an example, Hollywood will start considering more people of color in other prominent roles, and maybe we can reach the people who are stuck in the mindset that ‘it has to be true to the comic book. Or maybe we have to reach past them. – Micheal B. Jordan
Now the irony of ironies will be the very same fanboys that made the case for Scarlett Johansson to portray Major Motoko Kusinagi, one of the most Japanese characters in one of the bedrocks of Japanese Anime, “Ghost in the Shell.” Or tried to justify Johnny Depp’s clueless “F-Troop” redfaced, pidgin english buffoonery as Tonto in “The Lone Ranger.” Or Tilda Swanson’s role as a Tibetan Master of the Mystic Arts as “The Ancient One” in “Doctor Strange” Or thinks Emma Stone is Native Hawaiian. And yes, thought the attempt to cast Joseph Fiennes as MICHAEL JACKSON was a stroke of genius, will break the internet with totality not-racist insistences that “It’s not true to the source material, Superman is white”
For the record this was my response to the “Superman is White” crowd on my Instagram page. Went like this-
“Had someone approach me on-line about wearing a Superman shirt.
“Superman is white” -Jimothy
“Actually, Superman is Kryptonian, a different species. Racial classifications of Homosapeins are an unscientific and very human earthbound fantasy”- Me
“…….” -Jimothy
Now I get it. They may have been a civilization of gifted scientists, military tacticians, and free thinkers, but Kryptonians were also ignorant, warmongering despots in their own time.
White fragility causing people to be rude to total strangers is in nowadays. He’s not YOUR hero Jimothy, you don’t get to be the Geek Police.
Leave that to the Star Wars Misogyny Brigade
The ideals Kal symbolizes belong to everyone. “truth, justice, & the American way” (as if truth & justice were ever uniquely American, even less so under #CadetBonespur) and if my embracing him somehow threatens you? You need help.
Why do you care so much?
Let’s be clear, Superman is an undocumented alien that grew up in Kansas that has two Jewish Dads. If he were discovered today, ICE would steal him from the Kents & lock him in a for profit baby kennel (if they could).
Moral: Don’t call yourself a Geek if the love you have for a fandom isn’t intersectional or inclusive of others. You’re just a socially-inept bigot.”
This sentiment still stands.
#OscarsSoWhite has never been more relevant since they couldn’t find a single Asian actor to be Iron Fist to correct the “White Savoir” trope Danny Rand always was, and a general conversation about inclusivity on the superhero side when Hollywood whitewashing comes up, there”s always white people who come along and a) get salty af about staying true to the soure material (only if the character in question is a white male.) Or b) are totally dismissive about why it even matters.
Luckily there is a handy – and delicious – visual metaphor (two bowls of raisins one totally full one nearly empty) that can explain it.
Time Machine? YEAH! Blog on Tumblr still has the best analogy about how whitewashing is never okay. The next time some obtuse white person asks why can”t a white person play Martin Luther King Jr. if we”re going to cast a black actor as James Bond or Superman?
Here’s the crux of the argument-
“[the lack of films and roles for POC ] This is why it is bad, even despicable, to take a character who was originally a character of color and make them white.
Why it can be positive to take a character who was originally white and make them a character of color?
The white characters bowl is already so full that any change in number is almost meaningless (and is bound to be undone in mere minutes anyway, with the amount of new story creation going on), while the characters of color bowl changes hugely with each addition or subtraction, and any subtraction is a major loss. When there are so few raisins to start, any change made is really easy to spot, and makes a really significant difference”
Representation matters. Black. Heroes. Matter. When you bend over backwards to qualify a white washed character you perpetuate the false narrative that non-whites can’t tell any stories, even our OWN stories. The great white savior trope is stale and as Jordan made the point prior, normalized roles for people of color would eventually make these views obsolete, but it’s got to start somewhere. How better to steak a claim in that future space than Warner Bros. being bold enough casting the Last Son of Krypton as Black?
The beauty of the DC multiverse is there are already several black versions of Superman, Calvin Ellis / Kalel of Earth 23 – Val-Zod of Earth 2; fan art from Boss Logic imagining Jordan as the latter. Warner Bros. For the sake of RAO. If you plan on making five stand-alone Joker films (still can’t figure out why) then a reboot of Superman going forward is a piece of cake in comparison.
Personally I’d LOVE to see Michael B. Jordan taking on the role of Superman. He’s got serious acting chops and remarkable range! Michael Bakari Jordan is known for his film roles as shooting victim Oscar Grant in the drama Fruitvale Station (2013), professional boxer Adonis Creed in the Rocky sequel film Creed (2015), and antagonist Erik Killmonger in Black Panther (2018), all three of which were directed by frequent collaborator Ryan Coogler.
Jordan is scheduled to portray Bryan Stevenson in a biopic titled Just Mercy, which is scheduled to shoot in early 2018. Furthermore, he is slated to re-team with Coogler for the fourth time in a film titled Wrong Answer, based on the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal. Jordan is also scheduled to appear in a second remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. It’s reported that Warner Bros. wants to cast Jordan as a younger version of Morpheus in a possible prequel of The Matrix. (Citation Wiki)
Look it’s been 75+ years. There is no conceivable reason in this day and age to keep Warner Bros. from casting a black man as Superman. I’ve written about Superman at length and loved the character since childhood. My son who is a HUGE DC comic book fan came across a photo that captured his imagination. This picture below. –
Which prompted me to track down, reach out to and interview Jonathon Belle, on the eve of Action Comics 1000th issue, I discussed Superman’s Legacy with him Last Son: ALL THINGS GEEK Interview with Jonathan Belle – “The Seattle Superman” here is an excerpt below:
AY: Why Superman? What does Superman mean to you? What resonates for you with this iconic character?
JB: I love Superman because of his ideals and beliefs. The belief to treat people innocent until proven guilty, and not the other way around. It never really has been about the powers, but more so about how he is always striving to be a better person.
AY: As I had mentioned to you before, my son has an encyclopedic knowledge of the DC Multiverse which is why he was so excited by your photo thinking you were Earth-23 Superman, who’s a black man & also POTUS. Would you like to see a Black mainstream representation of Superman one day? What statement would that make?
JB: I would love to see that (be the change haha). I think the statement it would make is that everyone can be super. And to let go of a traditional way of thinking, to understand that we are who we choose to be.”
So I say #itstime it’s time for a Superman who’s black. Since the modern age of Comic Book Movies. It’s taken over 20 years for a black produced, cast, directed and starring superhero vehicle, Black Panther. And it took 21 films for a female lead in a Marvel comic book film Captain Marvel. But it only took Warner Bros. four years to give us Gadot’s & Jenkins Wonder Woman. Arguably the best live action CBM Warner Bros. produced since The Dark Knight.
We’ve seen if you hire the best in the business to helm and staff, that have “skin in the game”? You can create enduring cinema that isn’t limited to people in capes punching eachother. Or, keep chasing the dragon and end up with mixed results at best. (ahem Justice Leauge, Man of Steel) Or at worst, the missed opportunity that was Batman vs. Superman
Martha, Martha, Martha. My kids edited this trailer on my phone. And it’s more fun than BvS.
We’ve seen what Patty Jenkins did with Wonder Woman. So what could a John Singleton or long-time Jordan collaborator Ryan Coogler Directed Superman look like? Most importantly. What message could Warner Bros. send if they chose to seize this opportunity and make the 11th appearance of the man of steel on film, be one that acknowledges Superman’s most important not because of the color of his skin, but the content of his character?
Art credit – Author, Jonathan Belle, @bosslogic @straceyfreeman