It's been a big year for Michael B. Jordan, having already played Killmonger in Black Panther and Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451, and soon reprising Adonis Creed in Creed II. But the future's looking even brighter for Jordan, as he has a number of projects in the works. As announced today, the latest of the bunch is called The Silver Bear, where he'll play an assassin on par with Keanu Reeves' John Wick.
Based on the same-named book by Wanted and 3:10 to Yuma screenwriter Derek Haas, The Silver Bear will follow Michael B. Jordan's Columbus, a hitman who is so good at his job that Russian criminals gave him the nickname Silver Bear, which he earned for never failing and seemingly being immune to the stresses of his profession.
But things can only go smoothly for so long, and The Silver Bear will follow Columbus being hired to kill the United States Speaker of the House, who is also running for President. The twist: this politician is also Columbus' father. So yeah, that definitely complicates things.
Frank Baldwin penned The Silver Bear's script, and in addition to playing the lead character, Jordan will also be one of the movie's many producers. Derek Haas published The Silver Bear novel in 2008, and that was followed by 2009's Columbus, 2011's Dark Men and 2015's A Different Lie. As Deadline noted in its report, Lionsgate is aiming for The Silver Bear to be the first in a potential franchise, so if The Silver Bear is successful, we'll see more of Columbus' adventures.
If The Silver Bear does end up launching a franchise, this will be the latest one that points the spotlight squarely on Michael B. Jordan. As noted earlier, he's currently the star of the Creed movies, and it was reported last month that he's been cast to play John Clark in a new series of Tom Clancy movies. Unlike those characters though, this Columbus guy doesn't fall into the standard heroic category.
Still, as we saw in Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan definitely has no problems with effectively playing a villain. The Silver Bear, then, presents a different opportunity for him: portraying a character who's nestled in that grey area between good guy and bad guy. Still, it sounds like Lionsgate has faith that Jordan will do the role justice, as Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Drake said:
[The Silver Bear is] the kind of story that needs to be experienced on the big screen and Michael is the perfect movie star to inhabit the skin of this dynamic character and take us into the cinematic world of Columbus.
Of course, if Columbus is as formidable on the big screen as he is on the printed page, then there's the question of who would win in a fight between him and John Wick. The chances of that question being legitimately answered are slim, but since Lionsgate also distributes the John Wick movies, at least it's plausible we could see such a brawl depicted.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on The Silver Bear and the other areas of Michael B. Jordan's career. For now, you can look through our 2018 and 2019 release schedules to plan your trips to the theater accordingly.
