There's nothing Warner Brothers can do with their comic book films to guarantee success. Aquaman 2 comes out around Christmas 2022 and they are in a tight spot with Amber Heard. People do want her off the project because of her toxic relationship with Johnny Depp. At the time of this blog, she may be fired, but that's a stretch. Supposedly, it may take another year until another court hearing. It makes me wish the studio would take it more seriously about what could happen to her. The idea of Heard being a domestic abuse "survivor" is a joke. Both her and Depp are to blame for their issues.
But the thing with Heard is small potatoes in regards to Hollywood compared to what the studio has in mind with Superman. Another attempt at rebooting the superhero. They have a producer in JJ Abrams and their writer is Ta-Nehisi Coates, a very controversial writer who has experience writing for Marvel. Specifically, he has done stuff for Black Panther and Captain America comics. They are looking for a black lead, potentially Michael B. Jordan according to sites like wegotthiscovered.com and maybe John Boyega. There are multiple issues I would have with this reboot.
I don't think a black Superman is a bad idea. I question whether they will make any critical or commercial success if this comes into fruition. We're talking going after what Black Panther did. Could be the case of chasing after something that is the hot thing. But the biggest issue is Coates. The guy is one of those people who wants to interject politics and race into stuff because of his life experiences. That's the case with most writers and actors. With him, however, there are question marks to him like his berating of September 11th first responders who died that I've seen some people bring up from a book he wrote in 2014. I'm not sure I'd let someone like him take over a property that hasn't been on the greatest ground in movies since the early 80s.
I wonder if Coates wanted to do a Marvel movie. For as much shit as I give Kevin Feige for hurting Hollywood, I don't think he would have allowed him to do a film in their universe. If I had to guess, there would be a lot of racial tones in a story. You can get away with stuff in comics, but not all the time in films. Maybe WB allows more freedom for Coates, but I could see this as a recipe for disaster. There might be stuff to think about when watching a comic book film, but these are also popcorn flicks. It will depend on how much politics is shoved down people's throats, something that should be a huge cause for concern. I'm not saying this stuff didn't exist in the past, but it wasn't used as a crutch in tons of films over the decades and decades of material.
My prediction is as if it were to be fully produced. It will underperform. Critics and fans will not like it. There will be probably a ton of pandering and political garbage no one cares for. Forced diversity instead of trying to make it feel organic. Warner Brothers will have to rethink their strategies because of still trying to chase after the gold set by Marvel and Disney. I'll conclude with this. Warner Brothers is trying desperately to look better. Getting a guy like Coates will make them look worse. People want to shut their brains off when watching comic book films and see how they are adapted to the big screen. If it was another black writer, I don't think it would get the notoriety it has gotten these last few days. There's a way to discuss morals and politics without it feeling blatant. If Coates complains about the film being considered bad if this does get produced, he will have no one to blame but himself.
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