Michael B. Jordan’s Superman Project ‘Val Zod’ Is Coming To HBO Max

Michael B. Jordan’s Black Superman project is coming to HBO Max.

Deadline: Darnell Metayer & Josh Peters are set to write Val Zod, the HBO Max adaptation that Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society is producing for DC Entertainment and Warner Bros Television.

Val Zod is the story of another Kryptonian with powers who hails from the same doomed planet as Superman. The hero is Black, and he finds refuge on Earth 2. Like the original Man of Steel, he is sheltered on his adopted planet but eventually in the comics is pitted against a brainwashed Superman.

Metayer & Peters are prolific television and feature writers who broke onto the scene with their original pilot American Snow. Their project The Nola sold to Amazon with Sam Raimi directing. Their one-hour pilot, Hannibal, based on the life of the Carthaginian general Hannibal, they scripted for Scott Free and Endeavor Content. Apple preemptively bought it with Creed II helmer Steven J. Caple Jr attached to direct. They recently worked on Transformers: Rise of the Beasts for Paramount Pictures, set for release June 24, 2022. They’ve got an unexpected take on the iconic Earth-2 character’s origin story.

Val Zod joins the growing Outlier Society TV slate that spans big-budget IP-driven material as well as prestige tastemaker fare. Those include the TV projects Victories Greater Than Death and The Greatest, both at Amazon Studios where Outlier Society has its overall deal. Film projects on Outlier Society’s upcoming slate include Amazon Studios’ adaptation of the Akwaeke Emezi novel You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty, the DC Comics live-action adaptation of Static Shock, which is being scripted by Randy McKinnon, with Reginald Hudlin also producing alongside Outlier. There is also The Broken Earth Trilogy for Sony/TriStar and Thomas Crown Affair which Wes Tooke is scripting for MGM.