Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan met with Warner Bros. about Superman

Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther) pitched Warner Bros. on his vision for a Superman film this year, according to Variety. But we shouldn’t expect to see him in the red trunks anytime soon.

Rumors abounded all year that Jordan would take up the role vacated by Henry Cavill, with all the shock one might expect — both from those who objected to the idea of racebending Superman, and those intrigued by the ways that not being a corn-fed white guy might expand the story of Clark Kent. Jordan eventually denied that he was in the running to play the world’s first superhero, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

He told Winfrey that he’d be more interested in playing a slightly different character — Calvin Harris, or Kalel, the Superman of Earth-23, who is a black man and also the president of the United States.

But, Variety reports, he did have a meeting with Warner Bros., as one of a number of names the studio has reached out to in its attempt to find a winning Superman movie franchise.

“There have been discussions with J.J. Abrams, whose company Bad Robot recently signed a massive first-look deal with the studio,” Variety says, “and there was a meeting with Michael B. Jordan earlier this year with the Creed star pitching Warners on a vision for the character.”

Ultimately, scheduling between Jordan and WB didn’t work out. Variety’s sources think that it’s unlikely we’ll see another Superman movie before 2023. Meanwhile, Henry Cavill recently told Men’s Health that “I’ve not given up the role. There’s a lot I have to give for Superman yet.”

Even mean-er-while, in Warner Bros. television, Superman is getting his own TV show about being a husband and dad, and actors from both Smallville and Superman Returns are reprising their roles in the Arroverse’s massive Crisis crossover. On the small screen, at least, Superman stories are moving ahead. Warner Bros. could learn a thing or two from Warner Bros.