In the wake of Warner Bros.’s controversial Black Superman movie, it was reported that Michael B. Jordan was working on his own separate reboot of the Man of Steel’s Kryptonian mythos, playing a fan-favorite comic book character. We can now say that this project is officially happening in the form of an HBO Max TV series titled Val-Zod, as the show has now found its showrunners.
As reported by Deadline, Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters have signed on to write Val-Zod, which Jordan is producing through his Outlier Society label alongside DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. According to the trade, Metayer and Peters — who scripted Paramount’s upcoming Transformers: Rise of the Beasts — have come up with an “unexpected take” on the origins story of the titular hero.
So who is Val-Zod? In the comics, the character is yet another Kryptonian child saved from the planet’s destruction and sent to Earth. The difference is that Val-Zod hails from Earth-2 and was raised by that world’s version of Mister Terrific. He discovered his true heritage after the heroes of Earth-2, the Wonders, turned to him to help them defeat a brainwashed evil Superman known as Brutaal.
Though fans are widely expecting it, Jordan has yet to be officially announced to be playing the title role. That said, the Black Panther actor has previously revealed — before this project was greenlit — that he would be interested in portraying the hero. But he is a ridiculously busy guy these days so we’ll have to see how things develop. Michael B. Jordan is also attached as a producer to HBO Max’s upcoming Static Shock movie.
A lot of DC fans would probably be happier if WB moves forward with Val-Zod, a character always envisioned as Black, rather than J.J. Abrams’ Superman flick that plans to reimagine Clark Kent. As far as we know, though, that’s still in the works, too. We’ll bring you more on this HBO Max series when it comes in.
