David Zaslav Shelved Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Black Superman Script as ‘Too Woke’
Box-office success for James Gunn’s new Superman has emboldened DC Studios leaders to weigh reviving the period-piece script under the Elseworlds banner.
Overview
- The Wall Street Journal reports that Zaslav dismissed Coates’s Black Superman script in April 2022 for being 'too woke'.
- Coates’s project, developed with producer J.J. Abrams in 2021, was envisioned as a civil rights–era standalone feature with a Black director and star.
- Sources familiar with the matter say James Gunn and Peter Safran could revive the shelved script under DC’s Elseworlds label.
- DC Studios created the Elseworlds banner in early 2023 to greenlight non-canonical, filmmaker-driven superhero tales.
- Gunn’s new Superman premiered July 11 to critical acclaim and blockbuster returns, strengthening studio appetite for diverse, out-of-continuity projects.