The three most famous superheroes on the planet are arguably Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, but Marvel’s web-slinger is unique in that there are two hugely popular iterations of the character to have both spawned a devoted and loyal following.
When people think of the Dark Knight or the Man of Steel, it’s always Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent, but not only do a lot of fans actually prefer Miles Morales to Peter Parker as Spider-Man, but the former is also more than capable of headlining his own big screen franchise after Into the Spider-Verse raked in $375 million at the box office, scooped the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and gained a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest comic book movies of the modern era.
J.J. Abrams’ Superman reboot, meanwhile, has been heavily speculated to feature a black actor in the lead role, which was assumed to be Calvin Ellis or Val-Zod based on DC’s back catalogue. However, a recent rumor claimed that a brand new character would be invented to play the Kryptonian crimefighter and now the same outlet, Giant Freakin Robot, is reporting that a new Batman project is in development as well and it’ll feature a black star, one that might be created from the ground up.
Of course, the two reports are eerily similar to the point of almost being identical after arriving hot on the heels of each other, and while Timothy Fox, Lucas Fox and David Zavimbi all exist on the page, we’ve already got three versions of the Dark Knight in live-action. DC Films president Walter Hamada admitted that multiple franchises is the plan moving forward, with Robert Pattinson, Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton all appearing on screen as the Caped Crusader next year. As such, the idea of Warner Bros. throwing another version of the hero into the mix would feel like overkill at this point.
