SUPERMAN: More Details Revealed On What Led To Michael B. Jordan Bringing Val-Zod To HBO Max

On Friday, the news broke that Michael B. Jordan is developing his own Superman project for HBO Max and DC Entertainment. J.J. Abrams is producing a big screen reimagining of Clark Kent's story that's being written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and will feature a Black actor in the lead role, but this version is set to focus on the Earth-2 Val-Zod version of the Man of Steel. 

It's thought that Jordan wanted to tell a Black Superman's story from the comic books rather than just changing the original character's race, and thanks to The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision newsletter, we have more details on what led to this TV series becoming a reality. 

The trade explains that Jordan tried to develop a Black Superman movie through his Outlier Society production banner as part of his first-look deal with Warner Bros. 

They explain that, "Depending on who you talk to, it fell apart because Jordan wanted too much control over the project or Warner Bros. was shifting away from actors having control as producers, which sounds like different sides of the same coin to us. Jordan eventually left the Warners tent and the studio later handed the reins to J.J. Abrams, who brought in Ta-Nehisi Coates."

However, while Warner Bros. seemingly had other ideas for how Superman's story should play out on the big screen, it was around this time HBO Max approached Jordan and suggested reconfiguring the project for the streaming service. As a result, we'll be getting a different take on Kal-El in theaters and Val-Zod's story on the small screen. 

No overlap is seen between the two projects, though, as Jordan's is in very early development and on a completely different time track to whatever is going on with Abrams and Coates' vision for the hero.