Lately at Warner Bros., numerous DC projects structured around the comic giant’s best and brightest have been moving forward. Robert Pattinson has stepped into the role of The Batman. The Rock is playing Black Adam, and Shazam (Zachary Levi) is getting a sequel. New characters such as Batgirl also are finding actors, with In The Heights star Leslie Grace bringing Barbara Gordon to life. But one of the biggest superheroes in the DC stable, Superman, has been in limbo ever since Henry Cavill stopped getting offers to play the character, but all of that is about to change.
News broke recently that Creed standout Michael B. Jordan is going to be developing a project for the streaming service HBO Max that will focus on Val-Zod, a character from the multiverse of Earth 2 who assumed the mantle of Superman after his Kal-El was killed during an invasion by Darseid. Don’t you hate when that happens? Ahead of the limited series, a fan took to Instagram and imagined what Jordan’s Val-Zod could possibly look like. And yeah, it’s fantastic:
Earth 2 is a parallel universe created by DC comics writers so that they could tell alternate stories starring beloved characters without disrupting the continuity of the heroes established during DC’s Golden Age. It’s yet another example of how a multiverse approach to these cinematic universe can open up portals to new storytelling… but also, how it can create confusion for very casual readers and viewers who might be wondering how Michael B. Jordan can be Superman without being Clark Kent.
Some of this likely will get cleared up by The Flash, a new DC movie built around Ezra Miller’s version of the speedster that is being filmed by Andy Muschietti as we speak. That movie is rumored to dig deep into the concept of the multiverse, and even lined up two Batmen from two different eras -- Ben Affleck’s SnyderVerse Batman and Michael Keaton’s Batman from the Tim Burton movies -- to show how alternate versions of the heroes can coexist.
Val-Zod has some fascinating items in his origin that could forge connections to the ongoing DCEU. For example, he managed to escape an exploding Krypton with Kal-El and Kara Zor-Al, a character that we have seen on DC’s television programs, but have yet to see in a modern DC movie. However, The Flash movie I mentioned will introduce Supergirl, played by Sasha Calle, and what if she’s the Kara Zor-El from Earth 2? That could be one way for The Flash to feed into an HBO Max series, as Warner Bros. has said their feature films will do, moving forward.
For now, we have fan art. It may be a long time until we get more details on this HBO Max series. Also, DC has a habit of announcing projects, only to have them fade away into the comic-book ether. Hopefully that won’t be the case with this one, so keep your fingers crossed, and turn your eyes to the skies.
