Geoff Johns Blocked Regé-Jean Page Playing Superman's Grandfather In Krypton
Geoff Johns, who oversaw the creation of Syfy’s Krypton, allegedly stopped an attempt at diversifying the cast. This news is the latest development in Justice League actor Ray Fisher’s misconduct allegations against Joss Whedon and Warner Bros. higher-ups. Krypton, which follows the life of Superman’s grandfather Seg-El on the titular fictional planet, premiered in 2018, but was canceled after just two seasons.
Ray Fisher, who plays Cyborg in the DCEU, has been embroiled in a war of credibility with Justice League replacement director Joss Whedon and DC Films' co-chairmen at the time, Geoff Johns and Jon Berg, over the last year. Fisher asserts that ever since Zack Snyder left Justice League, Fisher and his character’s roles as the only Black hero/lead actor in the DCEU’s films was mishandled and trivialized mainly by Whedon—with his concerns about the mistreatment of himself and his character largely dismissed or gaslit by Warner Bros., Berg, and Johns. Fisher also alleges that not only was his character racially simplified or stereotyped after Snyder left, but he was also forced to be complicit in creating this version of his character. And, Fisher says, he and other castmates were mistreated on-set by way of Whedon’s unprofessionalism. Of course, everyone at Warner Bros. denies these claims, often through various levels of misunderstandings. As for the allegations that can’t be explained away as a misunderstanding, Warner Bros. underwent what it views as a fair and thorough investigation of any racism at play in the situation, the results of which came up in WarnerMedia’s favor.
In another shocking revelation, reported by THR, sources have alleged that the creators of Krypton wanted to incorporate some “nontraditional casting” which was shut down by Johns. One example of this diverse cast would have included Regé-Jean Page, who has since garnered international fame for his role on Netflix’s Bridgerton, as Superman’s grandfather. Allegedly, Johns disagreed with the choice, stating that Superman’s grandfather could not be black. Additionally, the creators wanted the character Adam Strange to be an LGBTQ+ character, but Johns allegedly downvoted that idea as well.
Naturally, Johns has a response to this, claiming that the reason he objected to Page’s casting is only that he envisioned Seg-El would look like a young Henry Cavil. Additionally, Johns’s reps stated that Johns is all for diversifying DC, pointing out that he supported Batwoman being re-introduced as an LGBTQ+ character in a comic book series he co-wrote. Johns’s team also noted that Johns had pitched the first DC superhero show to have a LGBTQ+ lead to Warner Bros. However, other sources corroborate a different side of things, such as Nadria Tucker, a writer on Krypton. Tucker tweeted that she had tried to advocate for a Black female character’s hairstyle to more emulate the way Black women take care of their hair, which Johns entirely dismissed, claiming to know what is and is not a “Black thing.”
WarnerMedia claimed that “remedial” action has been made with no concrete details as to what that entails. Fisher is most certainly not satisfied, continuing to take to Twitter to relay his side of the story. As for the fans, supporters of Zack Snyder’s version of Justice League generally see this as all the more reason to hand the reigns back to him. Moreover, the diverse DC fanbase can just hope that these allegations help avoid a future dismissal of opportunities to diversify, like in the case of Krypton.
Source: THR