A child with an alliterative name is born into an unassuming family in an unremarkable small city in the middle of the United States. He grows up poor, experiencing the sting of segregation and intolerance. He becomes preoccupied with justice, honing his body and mind to win glory and fight oppression. And when he eventually reaches his final form, he changes his name into something more elemental that becomes a symbol of strength, perseverance, and controversy to millions across the globe. This is a journey familiar to many comic book readers who have seen heroes like Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, and more embark upon it in the pages of Marvel and DC‘s most iconic titles. It also just so happens to apply to the real life Cassius Clay a.k.a. Muhammad Ali a.k.a. The Greatest. The legendary boxer lived the kind of paradigmatic life only possible in America – going from nothing to something to everything for some. His story has always been ripe for adaptation and now Prime Video is stepping into the ring with a series that they certainly hope can live up to its subject’s imposing legacy. cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});The Greatest is created by Ben Watkins (Cross) and produced by Michael B. Jordan‘s Outlier Society and Shawn Carter a.k.a. Jay-Z. The late boxer’s wife, Lonnie Ali, is also attached as an executive producer. With all eight episodes of the series set to debut to Prime Video worldwide on Wednesday, November 4, the streamer today released a first look trailer that leans in to the superheroic origin story of a young Cassius Clay. Give it a watch below. “A fighter like you comes along once in a lifetime… maybe once in history.” Ali’s boxing coach Angelo Dundee (Giovanni Ribisi) says early in the trailer. And, of course, he’s right. Muhammad Ali is widely regarded as one of, if not the, greatest boxers of all time, boasting a 56-5 career record with 37 knockouts, including KOs of Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman. It’s Ali’s history outside the ring, however, that elevated him to American icon status. Born Cassius Clay in 1942, the boxer changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964 shortly after aligning himself with the National of Islam. Ali would become a political activist, unafraid to antagonize the white establishment while still ostensibly working within it as a professional athlete. Per its plot description, The Greatest is set to follow Ali through this transitional period: “Set against a changing America, The Greatest follows a once-in-a-generation talent fighting for the right to become his own man. Through the fights that made him a champion and the convictions that made him an icon, a young man from Louisville transforms himself into Muhammad Ali, the greatest of all time.”Newcomer Jaalen Best stars as Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali. He is supported by a cast that includes Omari Hardwick as Cassius Clay Sr., Dana Gourrier as Odessa “Bird” Clay, Kai Parham as Rudy Clay, Amin Joseph as Sonny Liston, Giovanni Ribisi as Angelo Dundee, and Michael Ealy as Malcolm X.While the life of Muhammad Ali has naturally been the subject of many films, books, and other media – most notably the 2001 film Ali starring Will Smith – Prime Video notes that The Greatest is “the first authorized scripted series about the life of Ali.” How the show will balance that level of privileged access with an honest look at the less savory aspects of Ali’s story like his series of infidelities and paternity claims remains to be seen. But what would a superhero origin story be without some controversy? The post Prime’s The Greatest Trailer Depicts Muhammad Ali’s Superhero Origin Story appeared first on Den of Geek.