There is an answer for who is going to be helming the next superhero feature that's not named Kal-El, and it's Regina King. King is on board to direct and produce Bitter Root, an acclaimed Image Comics series by David F. Walker, Sanford Greene and indie veteran Chuck Brown. Bryan Edward Hill is working on the screenplay. The story, which is set during the 1924 Harlem Renaissance, involves the Sangeryes, a “fractured family of once-great monster hunters” who must defend New York City against a dark intimidating force that satiates itself with the prejudice of those times. 

The storyline of Bitter Root is similar to that of HBO's Watchmen, which King starred in and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her portrayal of Angela Abar (aka the masked hero Sister Knight). Both oeuvres deal with the parasitic nature of racism.

The first issue of Bitter Root. Image: courtesy of Image Comics

King, an Academy award winner, whose last project One Night in Miami earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscars nod for Leslie Odom Jr., will produce via Royal Ties, alongside Proximity Media, and its team of Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian. The acclaimed series, which was nominated for a 2019 Eisner Award for Best New Series, reads like a fantastic next project for King, whose directing resume is surefire to be in an upswing since that one night in Miami turned out the house.