Michael B. Jordan Dodges Reporter’s Surprise Question About Playing DC’s Black Superman

Michael B. Jordan is out to promote his threequel and directorial debut Creed III, but he’s also having to do a lot of talking about superhero movies. Jordan recently surprised Marvel fans by returning as Erik Killmonger(‘s spirit) in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but his name has also been circulating around the DC Universe for years now, as the actor Warner Bros. is either looking at or has tapped to play a black version of Superman. 

While on the red carpet for Creed III, Michael B. Jordan was stopped by ET, and the outlet launched into asking him about “the DC role of Black Superman” as if it were already a done deal that had been announced by James Gunn and DC Studios (and it very much is not). 

Jordan didn’t take the bait: he quickly responded to the query by saying “Who said that? Who said that?” and when the reporter doubled-down with “I said that!” the actor made sure to emphasize that “You said that! I ain’t say that! I don’t even know no rumors about that one. Bye!” 

Director J.J. Abrams and award-winning novel and comics writer Ta-Nehisi Coates have been attached to DC’s Black Superman movie since 2021; the project is one of the few that has been confirmed to still be in active development as part of the new DC Studios Universe. Ever since the project was announced, fans have been speculating and/or fan-casting Michael B. Jordan in the role of this Black Superman character. While that has never been official, it has remained one of the more popular and prevelant comic book movie rumors of the last few years. 

That all said, Michael B. Jordan may be stretching the truth when saying he is unaware of rumors that he could play a black version of Superman. Back in 2021, on the heels of reportes about Abrams and Coates’ Black Siuperman movie, came a report that Jordan was interested in producig in starring his own Superman project for HBO Max. That project would reportedly center on the character of Val Zod, a black character from DC comic books who is the son of General Zod from an alternate reality. While never confirmed, rumor had it that Jordan was interested in playing a Superman character who was originally created to be black, rather than a black version of the classic Kal-El Superman origin tale. 

Jordan spoke on the matter in an interview in 2021, stating: “I don’t know what is really going on with [Black Superman] in particular. But everybody’s want and desire to see black leads and heroic roles is really important. Representation is important… There’s so many opportunities with different IP, different properties, different characters that never got the light of day. And there are certain ones that should just be where they are. So let’s just see how things shake out.”

So he HAS heard of this – even if he can’t reveal any official updates. Yet. 

Creed III will be in theaters this weekend.