If we get a Black Superman in the Coates/Abrams reboot, what would you prefer?

[SiegePerilous02]

Aquaman has a book in development as stated by Joshua Williamson.

Kids not reading comics isn't an excuse, DC regularly attempts to attract new readers, they're not gonna waste a black Superman.

Their attempts don't seem to work with the "bloodbaths" in recent memory.

[Superboy-Prime]

Their attempts don't seem to work with the "bloodbaths" in recent memory.

Infinite Frontier is an attempt, so they're not stopping anytime soon.

[SiegePerilous02]

Infinite Frontier is an attempt, so they're not stopping anytime soon.

Yeah we'll see how well it works out for them.

Also not seeing an Aquaman ongoing by Williamson when I do a Google search, is that actually happening?

[Superboy-Prime]

Yeah we'll see how well it works out for them.

Also not seeing an Aquaman ongoing by Williamson when I do a Google search, is that actually happening?

Joshua Williamson never said he was writing the Aquaman book, he said it's in development, watch his wordballoon interview.

[Johnny Thunders!]

Okay, so the word "race-bent"... Does anyone want anything "bent". I kind of feel like the term is leading. It just makes me think more than ever we need a Black Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

A huge point of Clark Kent is that he blends in because he's white. There's no net positive here, Calvin Ellis is literally everything people who want a "white Clark Kent" are asking for.

With how diverse America has become, any alien that looks human can blend in. This would be especially true in Metropolis, which if it's anything like New York it means it's extremely diverse. Zod's line in Man of Steel ("He will look like you, but he is not one of you") would be applicable to a Superman of any race.

[Superboy-Prime]

With how diverse America has become, any alien that looks human can blend in. This would be especially true in Metropolis, which if it's anything like New York it means it's extremely diverse. Zod's line in Man of Steel ("He will look like you, but he is not one of you") would be applicable to a Superman of any race.

Looking like a white person really is not the same as looking like a black person or Person of Color.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Looking like a white person really is not the same as looking like a black person or Person of Color.

Correct, but this doesn't contradict that Superman as an alien blends in when we look at the bigger picture and doesn't have to hide his true self from people the way Martian Manhunter does.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

If they are going for it, I say make him a black Kal-El, raised as a black Clark Kent.

Go big or go home.

I don't know if doing this will solve the problems of Superman, my feelings is that the issues of Superman across comics and books is down to aesthetic issues about a character -- has too many powers and no agreed power-level, is kinda old-fashioned, should be be Clark or is he Kal, and so on -- rather than the cultural baggage of Superman being white.

If the film-makers have Superman as black but they still have Luthor or Zod as main bad guys after 6-7 movies banging the same beat, if they don't take the gauntlet and introduce the fantastic and outlandish enemies of Superman -- Bizarro, Brainiac, Mxyzsptlk -- and so on, then in my view it would be a cosmetic fix of Superman's problems in live-action recently.

At the same time, everyone's assuming that TNC is gonna automatically advocate for an African-American Superman when anyone familiar with his comics criticism and interviews knows that's not always his default take on this issue. That's not a given. Most likely he or his agent made a pitch, or he talked up Superman at some party, and it caught traction. But we don't know what it will entail or not.

[Stanlos]

I hope it is Superman portrayed by an actor of color. While they could keep the farm and all of that, I think it would be interesting to do it as a small town similarly impacted by globalization and the pursuit of so-called cheap labor in order to bloat profits for "investots". Either way I am excited to see a modern take on a good guy who learns the value of hard work, the pursuit of truth, and stewardship.

I think it is kind of a misnomer to call it Black Superman. It's Superman, which is mythical, an idea. With aliens as immigrants. Having the human Kents be persons of color who are older and were around for the 50s and 60s gives him just as strong a foundation as the usual trappings.

[Vordan]

Correct, but this doesn't contradict that Superman as an alien blends in when we look at the bigger picture and doesn't have to hide his true self from people the way Martian Manhunter does.

Superman as he is built is very much modeled after American white Jews. As long he keeps the parts of himself that are “odd” or “different” hidden, he can live in mainstream society without problem. That’s not the case for black Americans.

Okay, so the word "race-bent"... Does anyone want anything "bent". I kind of feel like the term is leading. It just makes me think more than ever we need a Black Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent.

That’s the term for “taking a character of one race and changing them into another”. You have literally been in here asking for that so yes it applies. No I don’t think that, Black Panther has shown that you don’t need to be an A-List in the comics to be an A-List on the screen, there’s plenty of other characters who exist who can represent. I doubt you’d be so happy about the idea of taking one of your favorite black characters and making them Asian for example.

[Superboy-Prime]

Superman as he is built is very much modeled after American white Jews. As long he keeps the parts of himself that are “odd” or “different” hidden, he can live in mainstream society without problem. That’s not the case for black Americans.

You never cared about the character until the chance came to appropriate him in a culture war.

But now that there’s a chance for Superman to be used in the culture wars, suddenly everyone is going on about how important he is and how much he means.

Whoa, man, take it easy. These are fictional characters. Comic books. A traditionally white man who is super duper strong being black isn't a culture war.

[Vordan]

Whoa, man, take it easy. These are fictional characters. Comic books. A traditionally white man who is super duper strong being black isn't a culture war.

Nah this is happening because WB wants to tap into the culture war going on and profit off it. They look at BP making a billion and go “I want that”. But how to get it? They’ve let their black OCs languish, they’re too scared to mess with Batman since he’s the only guaranteed moneymaker, so they look at Superman. They don’t know what to do with him and never have, so they keep chasing trends. Gritty and realism was popular with Nolan so they tried to do that with Superman and Snyder. Right now diversity is more popular so they’re going to try that with Superman, chasing a trend again.

I’ve always supported characters like Vixen or Mr. Terrific or what have you getting more exposure and respect, because the alternative is racebending. If the OC non-white characters are treated poorly, or ignored, then the only real alternative is racebending the popular white characters for representation. There are no cool OC Polynesian characters at DC so DCEU Arthur exists. That’s on DC, they could’ve done the work to build up characters like John Stewart or Vixen or whoever but they didn’t.

[Superboy-Prime]

Nah this is happening because WB wants to tap into the culture war going on and profit off it. They look at BP making a billion and go “I want that”. But how to get it? They’ve let their black OCs languish, they’re too scared to mess with Batman since he’s the only guaranteed moneymaker, so they look at Superman. They don’t know what to do with him and never have, so they keep chasing trends. Gritty and realism was popular with Nolan so they tried to do that with Superman and Snyder. Right now diversity is more popular so they’re going to try that with Superman, chasing a trend again.

I’ve always supported characters like Vixen or Mr. Terrific or what have you getting more exposure and respect, because the alternative is racebending. If the OC non-white characters are treated poorly, or ignored, then the only real alternative is racebending the popular white characters for representation. There are no cool OC Polynesian characters at DC so DCEU Arthur exists. That’s on DC, they could’ve done the work to build up characters like John Stewart or Vixen or whoever but they didn’t.

There's no culture war going on, these are comic book characters, man.

[Vordan]

There's no culture war going on, these are comic book characters, man.

You haven’t been paying attention if you think the discussion regarding culture, sexuality, race, or economics hasn’t played a role in all forms of media. Especially with regards to comics and/or adaptions of comics.