The real question then becomes just how different a direction are we talking about?
Be warned. The current rumor mill has a possible pick that will make a certain segment of the internet lose their collective mind.
Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan.
Superman has generally always been a white dude and casting outside those lines will inevitably produce a backlash from a bunch of segments of the population. Even casting a blond actor is certain to produce a ton of negativity in certain quarters, so changing his skin colour is a definite recipe for exploding heads all over social media. Some comic book purists will object on the grounds of canon, some people will object for racially motivated reasons and some people will object simply because they object to change in any form at all.
There is a way to do it and avoid many of the protests. Okay, you will never get an African American in the role and avoid ALL the objections but I have a way to cross at least most of the fan objections off. Just use the one thing that DC basically invented, the comic book version of the multi-verse, to introduce the new version of the character to the current version of on screen heroes.
DC has been publishing multiple versions of similar or even identical characters who wind up meeting each other via their multiple dimensions theory of comic book existence for decades. I've written about this phenomenon before and they've already used the trick in the CW-Verse to have Supergirl exist on a different Earth than that inhabited by Green Arrow and Flash. They also had all of those characters cross to yet a third version of Earth where those three heroes had villainous Nazi counterparts.
There's absolutely no reason that the first five minutes of a movie that stars Jordan as Superman couldn't be dedicated to a similar premise, thus quickly and easily dispensing with many of the fan objections. Hell, DC has recently had a very popular book (Justice Society) run for several years set on an alternate Earth where the caucasian Kryptonian Superman died and was replaced by the Kryptonian equivalent of an African-American man. It's actually one of my personal faves.
Jordan is a really great actor and could easily be the guy to reinvigorate the Superman franchise. While he's historically and generally been portrayed as a white guy, beyond tradition there's little good reason to hold to that casting choice for the actor playing Superman since the character is from ANOTHER BLOODY PLANET. It could even be argued that anyone BUT a white guy might better embody the spirit of a character that was originally created to at least in part reflect the reality of the immigrant and minority experience in America.
For me, at least, I just want to go see a Superman movie that has me cheering in my seat. I actually think that Henry Cavill is the best actor to ever play Kal-El on film and have generally enjoyed all three movies he's done in the role. As great a Superman as Cavill has been, I have to be honest and admit that my fist pumps and stupid grins haven't been nearly as frequent as I would have liked during his tenure as the Man of Steel. Certainly I don't fault his portrayal but the movies haven't lived up to the character's potential in most cases and perhaps the only way to fix that is to wipe the slate and start over.
I happen to think casting an African-American actor (or some other racebend, perhaps an Asian or better still a Native American Superman, I'm thinking specifically of Blair Redford currently Thunderbird on The Gifted) would be a very, very sweet way to shake up the current DC stuff on film. At the very least, it would almost guarantee a HUGE opening weekend for the next Superman flick.
One fan's take.
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