#dcau fan fiction

[sullustangin]

WIP Poll

Tagged by @starlightcleric (like 2 months ago -- SORRY)

Rules: Make a 24-hour poll with the names of your wips, let it run, then write one sentence for every vote the winner received.

I'll keep it to ones that I WILL eventually finish. No deadwood here. The first one is obvious Batsy/Wondy in the DCAU (Batman the Animated Series/Justice League/Bruce Timm continuity). The rest are SWTOR.

Tagging @starknstarwars, @commander-krios @consularmain @halibellecter @vexa-legacy

[emperorsfoot]

this is a very serious Batman Beyond fic

[triscribe]

RULES: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Thankee @aki-bara for the tag, you are absolutely correct that I have a ton of WIPs, tho for expediency's sake today I'm gonna limit myself to the files I currently have open:

-Last Bastion of Honor/Crisis in Two Mountains -Time Traveler's Guidebook to Sightseeing Family Landmarks -Snow Leopard Fluff -Adoption Speedrun Family Picnic -The New Guy, The Other Bat, and That Spoiler Kid, plus Child of Wonder and Reverse to Go Forward (all going to be part of the same conglomerate fic series) -Birds of Legend, Zero Hour/The Invitation

Uhhh let's see here: @wafflesrisa @resamille @peaceheather @wolveria @theredscreech and @they-bite

[theeviltriplet-fromao3]

So I accidentally started developing a new DC AU…

[triscribeaucollection]

Post Mission Report

An automated message gets sent to the Batcave following Batman dealing with that kryptonite-carrying missile in the Doomsday Sanction: injured on League mission, status critical. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a certain bird decides he's going to be first in line when visiting hours open up, whether he's technically allowed on the Watchtower or not.

Getting started on my new Birds in the DCAU fic series with some post-Doomsday Sanction feels, featuring: Tim Drake, J'onn J'onzz, and Shayera Hol, plus a few others :3

[magnetoeisenhardt]

Mandatory Disclaimer: Stories do not have to be morally perfect in order to be good or interesting. Stories do not need to function as a moral lesson for the audience. A fictional character doing bad things is (by itself) morally neutral. However, works of fiction reflect ideology, and it is worth examining and critiquing both the underlying ideology and the way a work of fiction engages with it.

Mandatory Disclaimer Part 2: Don't post the "The best thing you can do with power is give it away" comic here. I don't think it's a bad comic, but I think it's addressing the strawman (who does exist, his name is Alan Moore) argument that "superheroes are inherently fascist". That is a very stupid argument, but I think "there are inherently right wing aspects of some superheros" is not an absurd thing to say, and I don't think the aforementioned comic meaningfully addresses real critiques people have of specific comic book characters and stories. This critique is not about all superheroes. It is very specifically about Batman, and other primarily crime fighting heroes.

As a huge Batman fan, I've been wondering if it's possible to divorce Batman from very right wing ideas of justice. (As a hero) Batman's entire existence is predicated on the idea that criminals are a class of people to whom it is morally good to do violence to. I think a lot of arguments to and against this are made in bad faith, but the fact that Batman goes out and hurts "criminals" as the major component of his heroism actually does map onto right wing rhetoric about crime and punishment. Criminals do not have the same human rights as non criminals, and this is good.

I don't think diegetic arguments against this (Wayne Corp donates a bunch of money to charity; these criminals are ninjas/evil clowns/sewer mutants; Gotham would be even worse without Batman in it) meaningfully address the fact that the Batman story is constructed in such a way to create "inflicting violence" as the correct and moral response to a criminal. Additionally, as a street level hero, the criminals that Batman deals with are often committing the exact same kinds of crimes that real would be committing. We do see him fight run-of-the-mill muggers and drug dealers and murderers.

I do think Batman is more in the clear than other characters by virtue of his No-Kill-Rule, as I do think that we are still at a point where "breaking the law is not something that should result in being murdered" is a pretty radical statement. Additionally, there are stories that try to make Batman into a softer character, with more emphasis on restorative justice (DCAU Batman, for example). However, even these stories don't do away with the crime aspect all together. Violence is still an acceptable response to most criminals.

I also don't think most "Batman is actually the bad guy" stories actually do anything interesting or meaningfully address this problem. Most of the time, it's "Batman is usually good, but this time he's Gone Too Far", generic "authoritarianism bad" that feels like it could have been written about any character, "vigilantism is bad because it's breaking the law", or edgy ragebait.

Furthermore, even if the "violence against criminals is good" paradigm was portrayed as morally wrong, there's really only two options, which are to write Batman as if he is in the wrong, effectively ending him as a hero, or to somehow transition him away from being a crime-fighter, which would, I feel, render him almost unrecognizable. While I think a limited Batman series could end with Batman rejecting violence and doing something else, think the serial nature of mainstream comics means that Batman is bound to the status quo, and I don't think you can permanently change this aspect of Batman's identity and have him remain Batman.

[iholli]

👑 Holli / Rat • 24+ • any pronouns • ficto ace • artist, gamer, rat lover, selfshipper • so show me the sea, and I'll take you to Mars

🐀 heya! name's Holli but you can call me Rat, or whatever else you fancy :] I'm here to post about rats and the beach and cry about whatever fandom [or character] my singular braincell is currently most attached to. nice to meet you!

🎨 commissions are open! art tag: #ratkingdraws

⚠️ pro fiction / anti censorship space;

I'm personally uncomfortable with the majority of problematic content, but I believe people have the right to do whatever they want in fiction and I don't think they should be harassed for it. your ship is not my ship and that's okay. if you don't like something, block and move on, please. I'm an adult with better things to do. tag filter: #ratkingdiscourse

🌊 twice daily scheduled ocean posting;

#happy place 💙 / #oceancore • until the day they become my own posts.

💖 selfship posting;

#heart of mars • Rat King & J'onn J'onzz • DCAU / JLTAS / JLU • married

not comfortable sharing with canon but selfshippers are fine!

playlist 🌌🐀

×××

#PREDATOR/PREY • Wastelander Rat & Megalo Don • Fortnite • qpp

sharing okay, always looking for more friends who like him :]

playlist 🦈🐀 [cover photo]

💖 other selfships [sharing okay];

#💜💖💙 • Rat King, Donatello Hamato, & Leonardo Hamato • ROTTMNT

playlist 🐢🐀

#ratstatic • Rat King & Vox • Hazbin Hotel

playlist 📺👑

#king of hearts • Mutant!Rat & Remy "Gambit" LeBeau • X-Men '97

• Remy isn't a primary selfship & I more often ship him with Montague [Fortnite]; he may be removed from the list at some point, but I'm still very fond of him 💖

✨ most common fandoms;

DC: DCAU fanatic / GLTAS always / The Suicide Squad / MAWS / hopeful for the future of DC

Fortnite: joined C5S1 / Montague, Artemis, Hades, Megalo Don supremacy / more active on Twitter @ R47K1NGG4M3S / always looking for new friends, add me on Epic @ R47K1NGG4M3S :]

ROTTMNT: hi I love found family. and Leotello. but mostly found family. unpause ROTTMNT.

Marioverse / Luigi's Mansion: Luigi, King Boo, & Bowser fan / successfully played or own all the Luigi's Mansion games [including the arcade cabinet]!

Invader Zim: ZaDr my otp always / Almighty Tallest apologist / where the lore all started...

Hellaverse: Hazbin Hotel my beloved / RadioStatic / Helluva Boss is also cool. ily Queen Bee

MCU: less frequent here / forever a soft spot for Loki / Octogoblin / Spider-Verse / Team Cap

🌊 I don't bite, I'm just here to vibe & I like making friends :] please feel free to talk to me about anything! I love getting asks about my interests and selfships [or YOUR interests and selfships] or just to chat, and you can always ask for my Discord!

⚠️ AI & NFT will not be tolerated in any capacity; I spam report any accounts posting AI art, and I will block anyone using AI chat bots including ChatGPT & c.AI; I do not make exceptions. AI is art theft, including writing, full stop. block me now if that's an issue.

🚫 I don't care for NSFW content and will not post it. occasionally funny jokes will be reblogged but you can tag filter: #suggestive / #nsfw

🔪 I do like candygore though-- there may be the occasional bloody / gorey post though heavy realistic gore also makes me uncomfortable! tag filter: #blood tw or #gore tw

💖 that's all for now! thanks for stopping by :] don't forget to take some chill tunes with you!

[twistedtummies2]

Year of the Bat - Number 24

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’m counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January. TODAY’S EPISODE QUOTE: “As Napoleon told me, ‘A strong will can fuel a frail physique.’” Number 24 is…The Demon’s Quest.

This is the first of a few entries on the countdown that’s actually a two-part story. The episode marks the official start for one of Batman’s greatest villains, Ra’s Al Ghul. The character had ACTUALLY debuted as part of a twist ending to another episode, “Off Balance,” but it was with “The Demon’s Quest” that Ra’s became a fully-fledged member of the Dark Knight’s Rogues Gallery in the series. This story also happens to be the first on the list actually based on a pre-existing comic, namely the seminal story “Daughter of the Demon,” created by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams. The two-part story begins with Ra’s Al Ghul appearing in the Batcave, officially introducing himself to Batman and making it clear he knows Bruce’s secret identity. However, Ra’s isn’t there to fight the Caped Crusader. Instead, he wishes to join forces with him: it’s revealed that Robin has been kidnapped, and – coincidentally – it was by the same people who have recently kidnapped the Head of the Demon’s own daughter, the lovely Talia Al Ghul (whom Batman also previously met and became fascinated by in “Off Balance”). I don’t think I’m spoiling much by saying that it’s later revealed Ra’s is the one responsible for the kidnapping, and all this was a ploy to try and win Batman over to his side. However, Batman isn’t taken in by all this, and when he learns more about Ra’s and the Society of Shadows (a.k.a. The League of Assassins), he quickly turns from working with Al Ghul to trying to find a way to stop his mad plans of destruction. Ra’s was already pretty well-known in comics at the time, but for various reasons, hadn’t really reached mainstream popularity yet. While it would be a lie to say the DCAU catapulted him to stardom, his appearances in B:TAS and later spin-offs DID help to make him more familiar to non-comic readers around the world. Chances are that Ra’s wouldn’t be the villain he is now if this show hadn’t come about. (Well…this show and “Batman Begins,” but…details, details.) The character was played by the late, great David Warner, and is perhaps the definitive take on Ra’s beyond comics proper. (Not necessarily the best or my favorite, mind you, but certainly the one closest to the original source, in a lot of ways.) This two-parter established the villain and the kinds of stories he’d be most prominently featured in from this part on. The episode feels sort of like a cross between Indiana Jones, with a hint of pulp fiction like The Shadow or The Phantom thrown in, crossed with…well…Batman. It’s a globetrotting adventure story that just so happens to involve superheroics in the mix, so to speak. It’s definitely one of the most epic stories in scale the show ever produced. I honestly feel pretty bad for leaving this one so low in the ranks. There’s really not much I can say as to why it isn’t higher up; I guess, end of the day, I just like other episodes more. Make no mistake though, this is a great story to look at: if you’re a fan of Ra’s Al Ghul, and if you’re only going to watch one episode of the character from this show, make this two-parter your pick of the bunch. You won’t regret it.

Tomorrow we move on to Number 23! Hint: “At what point did I become life’s punching bag?”

[shayera-the-magpie]

About Me

Lydia

Age 30+

Autistic

Currently Reading

All-Star Squadron (comics)

Infinity, Inc (comics)

X-Men v2 (comics)

Justice League Europe (comics)

Avengers v3 (comics)

Batman: War Games (comics)

Favorite Comic Book Storylines

Batman: Under the Hood

JSA: Return of Hawkman

Legends

Rann-Thanagar War

Batman: No Man's Land

Crisis on Infinite Earths

Zero Hour

JLA/Avengers

Favorite DC Units

Hawkmates (Primarily the Earth-One Silver/Bronze Age Hawkmates before COIE and the Pre-Zero Hour Reboot Thanagarian Hawks. Doesn't mean that I don't hate Kendra/Carter and Shiera/Carter. I love them, but I just prefer the Thanagarian Hawks)

Green Lantern Corps (John Stewart is the Goat. Sorry, Hal, Guy, and Kyle. I don't hate you, I just love John more)

Batfam (If you are an Bruce Wayne anti, you are on thin ice. Talia/Brutalia antis DNI.)

I am starting to get into Wonder Woman

Favorite Ships

DC: Talia/Bruce, Selina/Bruce, Shayera/Katar, Shayera/Carter, John/Katma, WonderTrev, Clois

DCAU: John/Shayera (I don't ship these two outside the DCAU), Diana/Bruce

Areas of Interests: Literature, comic books, movies and history (particularly the Edwardian Age to the European part of WWII)

DNI: Same as bio. Terfs, Radfems, Transphobes, JKR bootlickers, exclusionists, and MAPS.

NOTE: there are some days where I might reblog/post something HP on this blog. I do write fan content for it as well. Tags are cw harry potter, cw hp, harry potter, and hp. Anything critical about the source material will be tagged hp critical and harry potter critical. If you haven't had those first four tags filtered, then I must be ticking an box or two in one of your DNIs, and you might want to turn back and block me. DNIs are supposed to go both ways after all.

"Well, JKR did say that the positive proliferation of her works is a sign that you support her views in secret and are afraid to speak it."

Yes she did say that, and I don't blame you if you don't want to touch HP for claim alone. Personally, I think she's in such an egotistical denial that fans of HP pan her views that she wants to believe that those decrying her support her in secret. Egotistic, abusive narcissists like Joanne don't want to believe that people hate them. They even want to believe that their detractors secretly like them and agree with them despite all evidence of the opposite. Alternatively, it could be her way of turning her detractors against each other. Because a abusive narcissistic would gaslight a trans woman for making her believe that her friend secretly agrees with her. However, that is my prerogative and I don't speak for anyone else (and before you ask, what money you want to spend on Official HP merch, donate it to a Trans Charity or spend it on fanmade HP merch created by an trans woman instead, the latter if you want merch bad enough. And no, DON'T even torrent that upcoming HBO Series, as I just learned that even torrents would get it renewed.)

My AO3

caffienated_biblophile

slytherinmarauder (pseud for HP works)

autistic_stephanie_brown (pseud for DC works)

Bottom line: for the record, I do believe that fiction can affect reality in regards how BIPOC, LGBT+, First Nations, Jews, Muslims, and disabled/neurodivergent/mentally ill people are portrayed in media and that those portrayals can affect the way the GP views those groups. However, the term "fiction does affect reality" isn't applicable to freaking fanfiction and videogames.

[the-kettle-whistles]

Me, writing self-inserts, age 11

[sullustangin]

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @starknstarwars and @eorzeashan  -- Thanks!!

Tagging @magicallulu7, @velvetsunset, @sheyshen, @tiredassmage, @davidoodles, @zabrakghoul annnnd @thaniraslegacyswtor​   -- no pressure, and apologies for anyone who’s already been tagged!  This can be for art or writing, whichever you prefer

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your wip folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it.

SWTOR/KOTOR

The Yavin Fic

The Taste of Ashes

Establishment

The Man Who Lived For Tomorrow

prompts

carth trash

Body

Theron Shan and birthdays

Thing I’m working on for the SWTOR fic exchange (not its actual title, but the actual title is a giveaway)

DCAU

batman

wonderbat

Other stuff

doc

west wing

DO NOT SEND

Assorted dead fics (probably not going to do anything with them but I can’t bear to send them to the recycling bin; some of them I have cannibalized for plotpoints or details. 

methos

highlander

Mando

ficcage

holmes

nonceles vincent

[hobgoblinsandpeachfuzz]

Hal frowned slightly, brow wrinkling in thought. "That's not exactly a simple question to answer, Aya-- what got you thinking about this?"

(oooo this is so good--apologies if i get timelines and such wrong, i can’t exactly remember details, but this is always a good vibe)

Aya paused, and though there was no real reason to, it seemed to help Hal and other organics to understand that she was listening if she paused a moment. 

Another element of her pausing could have come about, in truth though, from the fact that she herself could not really succinctly answer what had her questioning the notion of love. She had observed its effect on Green Lanterns Hal and Kilowog, with the both of them teasing one another about their encounters with Carol Farris, the Star Sapphires, and Galia. It seemed to be an emotion that was both celebrated, derided, feared, loathed, studied, and unknowable all at once, for family, friends, enemies, strangers, and partners--more confusing, it was simultaneously the most defined, and the most undefinable emotion yet, unhelpful in her search for answers. 

She realized that she was pausing for quite some time, as her eyes drifted over to a hunched figure in red, typing away with a silent, sullen sorrow that she was also puzzled to define--and Hal Jordan laughed.

“Ooooh, okay. I get it now.”

That was just as puzzling, but the look she must have given was unplanned and uncoordinated, and spurred another burst of laughter from Green Lantern Hal. She wished she knew what was so funny.

[beyondflashpoint]

So, I’m really enjoying working on my Beyond Flashpoint AU, but I wanna talk with other folks, sort of open the floor and explore the fandom’s perspective(s) and maybe cater to a few niche head canons. So feel free to message me, or shoot me an ask. Hell, answering questions might help me flesh out my ideas, or even encourage me to pump out more content. Also, if you know any other fic authors or fan artists who might wanna cooperate with me on this, feel free to tag them. And a special thanks to everyone who has liked, reblogged and or commented on the stuff I’ve cranked out so far!

[maidenvault]

For the unpopular opinions: Batman/DC in general

1) You can want a Batman movie that isn’t dark for once all you want, but you’re the one who has to look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and deal with that, lol. You’re gonna have to justify to yourself why, when he dresses up like a nocturnal animal and lives in a city called Gotham. Dude was inspired by the Shadow, a dark and mysterious pulp character. Arkham Asylum is named after the fictional New England city of Arkham that is the setting in several H.P. Lovecraft stories. Elements of horror, gothic fiction, and noir have always been part of the DNA of Batman’s world. It makes him very distinct from characters like Superman or the Flash and that’s a good thing. Obviously it’s fine for Batman to have more light-hearted and kid-friendly portrayals, but you’re always gonna be standing on weak-ass ground arguing that it makes sense as anything more than a nostalgic tribute to the silver age comics or the Adam West show.

Every once in a while you’ll see a gif or comic panels going around showing Bruce hugging a child or otherwise being compassionate with someone being like “See?? This is the real Batman, the one who cares about people!” Bitch, all superheroes care about people. They all have compassion. But even in the DCAU, which is made for kids, this guy barely ever laughs and doesn’t like celebrating Christmas and has a tendency to alienate people close to him because he’s so single-mindedly committed to catching criminals he can lose sight of being a human being. Sometimes it feels like what some fans want is a sunny Super Friends type of characterization where the Justice League are all almost indistinguishable from each other in personality and the tone of everything is the same.

(That said, people conflate “dark” with “realistic,” and I really don’t find The Batman to be as gritty and grounded as people are making it out to be. The Riddler is the one element that feels very grounded in reality. But this movie is not going for realism like Nolan’s films did. It has a heavily stylized and atmospheric world, the Penguin is a hilarious and ridiculous person, and there’s a scene where Catwoman frickin pours a big glass of milk and drinks it in front of Batman like she’s daring him to say anything about it and he’s like “Sooo….cats, huh?” It’s no Burton level of comic-booky but come on hahaha.)

2) What ships and characters I’m really into can vary a lot across different DC canons, and I honestly feel like people can get kind of annoying and myopic in their ways of approaching adaptations when they fixate on the same elements of the universe in everything despite so many Batman adaptations, for instance, being really different as interpretations. Fans that are going around calling Dano’s Riddler “Nygma” when his name canonically is Nashton are telling on themselves that they basically don’t care about the specifics of this portrayal. It just feels like a superficial sort of interest to have in the thing, sort of like the dread tendencies of migratory slash fandom. This is also why lots of fans are getting so ridiculously ahead of the material and already clamoring for a full-fledged batfamily in Reevesverse, even though such a thing would take a long game of careful set-up particularly in this version if it can work at all….*groan.* I mean, before Riddlebat started picking up steam in the 2022 fandom most of the fics I think were Penguin/Riddler, I guess because that’s a popular ship in the Gotham TV fandom and you guys can’t be normal.

But maybe I’m just weird like this. I’ve never been nearly as into batcat before as I'm into 2022 batcat. I’ve historically been mainly a superbat shipper and that’s a fun lens through which to look at anything they interact in, but I recognize that they have zero fucking chemistry in Synderverse and I just can’t do it, lol. These things don’t have continuity across different ‘verses for me.

3) That Swamp Thing series people were so sad to see cancelled was literally so bad. Started out with a pretty great pilot, then got bad.

4) Ezra Miller’s Flash is really annoying and should go away.

5) CW Iris/Barry are adorable and sweet and have great chemistry. This shouldn’t be an unpopular opinion. Poor Candice Patton, fuck that fandom.

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Sigh. Me knowing they made Tim bi because he’s the least favorite bat kid among the man-baby-comic-lovers, meanwhile dick is a fav of the man-baby-comic-lovers and won’t be allowed into the gay clubs :(

wait like actually? idk babe i've always seen tim as a favourite of the man-baby-comic-lovers.

or wait, it's split pretty evenly. from what i've experienced every time i go to cons and comic shops and stuff like that, you've got the people who got into dc through dcau and dc video games, and then you've got the people that have been reading comics since they were kids, back when tim was robin.

the first type don't actually know much about comics, and are the people you see going around saying there are four robins!! the older brother, the gun one, timberlina dragon, and the one with the sword!!! batman busts ass and puts his kids in their PLACE! haha have the boys fuck gotham villains and redheads bc it's ~sexy~ and whatnot. joker and batman have such a complex relationship bro, it's so deep and meaningful. also did you see the joker movie? the True Story of the joker Revealed, it's so incredible. look at my batman shirt.

and yeah, these people looovvvee making gay jokes about dick and his ass, but get entirely too offended and rude the minute you try to engage them in intellectual conversation about either dick being seriously queer or dick being too-hypersexualized and how they need to tone it down a bit. they've gotten a little too into the batman-male-power-fantasy and see dick as The Best Sidekick who only listens to what batman, aka themselves, say and think.

and then you've got the second type, the people who grew up with tim as their robin and are therefore 100% devoted to the one image they have of him, which is honestly probably a partial self-insert. and of course there's nothing wrong with being partial to a character you have a long history and love for, but not in the way i've observed these people behaving. they think of any other comic character as part of tim's supporting cast and throw a hissy fit any time they're reminded that other comic runs with other characters exist, and the world doesn't revolve around tim drake. red robin was the pinnacle of tim drake's existence and we need to go back to the Badass, Take No Shit deal tim had going on there. yj98 would have been so much better if tim and cassie got together, but stephs a pretty hot blonde herself, so i'm not complaining much. i only talk to other tim fans and occasionally jason + bruce fans, and therefore build up an entire fanon community about what i think tim's character should be.

these people panicked and got irrationally angry when tim became canonically queer because they've never really stopped projecting onto tim, so it becomes a situation of "my favourite character CAN'T be gay!! he's my favourite character and i'm not ~homophobic~ but only characters i don't care about can be gay. not ones i like, bc then the gays are taking over everything i like!!" they've never really grasped the idea of fictional characters being fictional and subject to growth and change on behalf of the writers/creators, not just a subset of the fans.

um. this got a little long. sorry, i just had some Thoughts that i had to get out there lol. but yes, i do agree with you, dumb man-baby-comic-lovers need to shut up already so dick can be allowed into gay clubs

[davidmann95]

JJ Abrams Superman Movie officially announced, with Ta-Nahisi Coates writing

Anonymous said: Just a few days after you said you were happy with DC taking a break from Superman movies and just focusing on him being on tv again, they go and announce a new Superman movie. How do you feel? Coates is an exciting choice, I think

Caught me red-handed! But to be fair a couple times I said that I left a caveat of ‘barring extraordinary circumstances’, which I’d say this qualifies as.

There’s only so much to go off of at this point, but even these tidbits open up a lot to think about.

* As out of left field as Coates feels at first blush - he’s a Marvel man! - it’s not entirely shocking that he’d be on WB’s shortlist to be their ‘how to fix Superman’ guy: he got a MacArthur Genius Grant the same year as his #1 bestselling book about what the American Way actually means, after which he got into superhero writing with a run that ended up having elements incorporated into a cultural moment in Black Panther, and then Between The World And Me was cited as the inspiration for the Watchmen show that substantially drew on Superman iconography and won 11 Emmys. People are already talking about him admittedly not being a DC or Superman guy (though in that same interview he notes his love for the DCAU, specifically including STAS), but if he’s here he’s got something to say and, y’know, probably read a decent amount of Superman stuff either since then/prior to this or to get ready for the gig, so can’t say I’m worried.

* Related note: I’m seeing folks concerned about how much control he’ll really have over the project, which is fair. But that it’s his involvement that’s being touted over JJ Abrams’ (the guy who, like him or not, rebirthed Star Wars as a going concern to the tune of over $2 billion), and that they’re formally announcing and hyping it up as TA-NEHISI COATES’ SUPERMAN MOVIE™, COMING 202X before even having a director or lead actor attached, says to me that whatever his vision is it’s one WB’s going all-in on for the time being.

* I’ve seen plenty of discussion already about the appropriateness of this potentially starring a black Superman given both the dynamics/thematics of Superman as a character, and more significantly the implications of Coates maybe only being brought onboard to do ‘the black version’. That is a conversation I have precisely zero qualifications to wade in on with my own takes, but given that he is a dude with enough options that he could probably even turn down an opportunity on this scale, and the aforementioned weight being given to his role in this, I think it’s safe to say whatever we’re going to get is something he’s onboard with.

* Also seen concerns re: his pedigree as a fiction writer - another one I’m not that qualified to weigh in on, I’ve only read the first year or so of his Black Panther and Captain America runs (though I got the rest of his BP on Comixology while it was free, gotta check it out sometime), which were solid if a bit more workmanlike than you’d hope, along with the (other category altogether) Between The World And Me some time ago, which was...considerably more than solid. I know however his fiction novel debut in The Water Dancer was well-received, his Marvel work rather than staying ‘grounded’ hasn’t shied away from the sort of outré high concepts you’d want to see in a Superman movie, and the main criticism of his runs of ‘they’re too slow’ wouldn’t likely have the space to apply in a 2-3 hour Hollywood blockbuster, so again, not too concerned.

* Perhaps time will make me eat my words, but hot take: there is a basically 0% chance this is about Calvin Ellis or Val-Zod. Yes, yes, the DC movies are reportedly embracing the multiverse an excuse to do standalone stuff, but the two examples of that thus far in Joker and The Batman are still broadly rooted in the conventional trappings of those characters even if they’re separated from the ‘main universe’. Maybe someday the options might go further afield, but right now, when Superman hasn’t had an unambiguous silver screen hit in over 40 years? They’re not going to pour a quarter-billion dollars into a movie with the premise of “last son of the doomed planet Krypton, imbued beneath Earth’s yellow sun with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men and raised with the noblest ideals of truth and justice, Some Other Guy Most Of You Don’t Know protects the world...as Superman!” Not even getting into Val-Zod being just one member of an ensemble cast from a largely overlooked book and having the baggage of being Zod’s kid, and the EVERYTHING of making a four-quadrant tentpole film about Super-Obama (when you haven’t even been able to make your regular Super work) - this is either going to be Clark, or if they do make Superman black or brown but still want some distance it’ll be a Jon movie so it’s still got the direct connection to the original and the ‘son of Superman’ pitch in its corner too.

* Abrams is an interesting partner. He’s Hollywood’s big nostalgia guy, and that’s...probably not what Coates is going to be going for here. I assume he’s basically there to keep things familiar enough for WB’s tastes, which itself raises questions about the nature of Coates’ pitch and how it was internally received even if they’re clearly very publicly committed to it.

* Michael B. Jordan probably won’t really be the guy - he apparently talked about it, reasonably concluded he didn’t want to face that inevitable scale of backlash after what he already went through just playing the Human Torch, and the tradition is to cast an unknown in the part - but I guess never say never. Heck, while I sure wouldn’t bet on it I don’t think Ryan Coogler ending up involved is out of the question either; Coates’ previous screenwriting experience was working on a project with Coogler and Jordan that evidently didn’t come to fruition (Wrong Answer, a drama about a 2006 Atlanta public school cheating scandal), and they seem to have maintained a relationship as they had a public discussion regarding The Water Dancer in 2019.

* Ok I know making fun of Snyder people is passé at this point and usually more “NO SUPERMAN MOVIES MAY BE PERMITTED UNTIL THE CIVILIZATION-REDEFINING FIVE-FILM SAGA IS COMPLETE” howling into the void is barely worth notice, and “this is solely WB retaliating against us for bending them to our will!” in response to a Superman reboot would normally be just an amusing side-note too. But trying to get #HenryCavillSuperman/#HenryCavillIsOurSuperman trending in response to the possibility of a black Superman...I mean obviously so fucking many of them are fully aware they’re just not saying the quiet part loud, but what’re the percentages here?

So that’s what I’ve got so far. How do I feel about it all? It’s odd; given that there are basically no actual details beyond a name attached I’d never thought about in this context, and that this came with no forewarning just as the prospect of Superman in movies for the next long while seemed as dead as it ever had been, it’s so ill-defined and seems so unreal that I don’t feel much of anything about it yet? Plus I’m no longer driven on a day-by-day basis by a savage, all-consuming desire to slake a thirst for quality Superman stuff long left unquenched the way I was even a couple years ago, which likely also plays its part. But objectively? This is a guy formally, nationally recognized for being smart who’s also a journalist and comics fan being given Superman, with what sure feels like a lot of leeway and presumably a blank slate, which is basically the abstract concept of a perfect pick. So yes: I formally rescind my “please no Superman movies in the 2020s” plea.