Corporate showdowns, box office catastrophes, and a future that's
uncertain to say the least — this is the rise and fall of Henry Cavill's Superman.
On the heels of the 2008 box office sensation Iron Man, Warner Bros. and DC were forced to
play catch-up. Hoping to make a splash in pop culture history, DC leaned on Superman to pave
the way for its own movie crossover franchise. More pressingly, a court ruling in favor of Supes'
original creators stated that the family of Jerry Siegel would be able to sue the studio for damages
and reclaim the rights to the character if a new Superman movie did not go into production by 2011.
Meanwhile, actor Henry Cavill had been waiting for his chance to star in a top-grossing
Hollywood feature. Cavill had reportedly been passed up for major roles in Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire, Twilight, and the James Bond reboot Casino Royale. Cavill's coveted
bone structure and buff physique had seen him rumored as a superhero for many years,
and he was even one of the first choices for the 2006 movie Superman Returns. Finally,
after many near-misses, Cavill was announced for the leading role of Clark Kent in Zack
Snyder's Man of Steel, with the director boasting that he was "the perfect choice" for the part.
At nearly 10 years old, the DC Extended Universe has been something of a messy adventure. With the
final few films of the cinematic franchise set to trickle out in 2023, DC's rivalry with the MCU
could be called one of the most expensive failed movie experiments of all time. With a mishmash of
reboots, unclear timelines, and far too many loose ends, the DCEU will conclude with more canceled
projects than completed films. At the center of it all was a Justice League film that became so
convoluted that it had two separate releases, each completed by two different directors.
"Boo yah."
The box office disaster that was Justice League is a well-documented Hollywood hiccup,
one that saw director Zack Snyder leaving the movie mid-project for personal reasons — only
to find his vision of the DCEU left in shambles upon his return. A late attempt at patchworking
his franchise centerpiece into existence in 2021 proved to be too little too late, as Warner Bros.
searched for new directions in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad reboot and a Rock-led Black
Adam film. Notably, two of the movies that Henry Cavill was most heavily featured in,
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, were arguably the most critically panned.
The aftermath of Justice League led to a retooling of the entire DCEU. A film intended to spin off
into at least six movies and have a minimum of two sequels ended with just two follow-ups: Aquaman
and Wonder Woman 1984. With multiple projects from the headlining performers of the DCEU canceled,
Henry Cavill's future with Warner Bros. has been uncertain since his last starring role in 2017.
Conversely, Cavill has struggled to break through as a superstar in other Hollywood projects. One of
the actor's most significant roles outside of the DCEU, as Napoleon Solo in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,
led to one of the biggest box office flops of 2015. Making matters worse, Cavill became the
target of internet ridicule for his inconsistent upper lip between Mission Impossible: Fallout
and Justice League — although the runaway success of Fallout at least made up for all that. Still,
aside from a moderately successful appearance as Sherlock Holmes in Enola Holmes, Cavill
has remained outside the bubble of A-list movie stars in his adventures beyond the world of DC.
Everybody could smell what The Rock was cooking when he brought Henry
Cavill back for a surprise cameo in the mid-credits scene of 2022's Black Adam.
"Black Adam… We should talk."
Dwayne Johnson was ready to forge ahead with his vision for the DCEU
as he championed the introduction of the entire Justice Society,
along with the return of Clark Kent himself. A significant part of the marketing for Black
Adam involved the former WWE wrestler touting his own rebrand for the cinematic
franchise. As the movie reached moderate critical acclaim, Rock boastfully tweeted:
"Black Adam will serve as our phase one of storytelling in
our DC Universe. Exciting times for the brand to build up and build out."
The Rock's idea for the revamped DCEU involved one vital character,
of course: Superman. If nothing else, Johnson wanted his new
anti-hero on screen with the Last Son of Krypton. In another post, he wrote:
"We fought for years to bring you back, they always said no. No was never an option. We
can't build out our DCEU without the world's greatest superhero."
Following the release of Black Adam, the news spread quickly that Henry
Cavill was about to step back into the blue and red suit. Then, at last,
Henry Cavill made the announcement that Kal-El would be back. On Instagram, he said:
"I wanted to make it official that I am back as Superman."
Unbeknownst to Cavill at the time, the DCEU was about to undergo its greatest change
yet. It came to light almost simultaneously with Cavill's announcement that James Gunn
and Peter Safran were being handed the keys to the DC cinematic kingdom. With
the character's future in their hands, Cavill may have been pre-emptive when saying he was
"enormously joyful" about his comeback just days earlier. Understanding what has come
to light since regarding Cavill's dismissal, it's unclear how the cameo and supposed DCEU
return were presented to the actor. The fans were also left without a clear explanation as
to what the studio heads at the time intended for Superman's next flight.
Like two alternate timelines, two parallel DC movie franchises were being built in different
directions during that fateful week in late October. One was being brainstormed by James
Gunn and Peter Safran as they prepared for their first days on the job. The
other was the DCEU as constructed by Dwayne Johnson and his team. With Black Adam proving
to be a last-ditch effort for Warner Bros. before going in a completely new direction,
much of the truth about that week has yet to be revealed.
Whatever really happened, there were, for a time, high expectations for a sequel to
Cavill's only solo Superman feature, Man of Steel. Although it was never announced,
fans were led to believe that a new movie starring Cavill as the DC headliner was in development.
Even as it was reported that the former head of the DCEU, Walter Hamada, was on his way out,
the Hollywood Reporter stated that "the studio's eyes are very much on Superman." But Cavill once
again missed the mark in October 2022 when he stepped away from his leading role in Netflix's
The Witcher, presumably under the impression he would soon be filming a big-budget DC picture.
Adding to the confusion regarding the definitive direction of the DCEU,
there were, and are, multiple other projects in various stages of development. As it stands,
titles such as Shazam 2: Fury of the Gods and Blue Beetle are still set for release on their
respective premiere dates in March and August 2023. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is equally
likely to maintain its Christmas 2023 premiere. Conversely, a slew of other potential projects
have more or less hit the wastebasket, including Black Canary and Wonder Woman 3. Patty Jenkins had
been working under the perception that she would be able to conclude her Wonder Woman trilogy,
but recently revealed that her and Gal Gadot's future in the DCEU is anything but assured.
That just leaves one movie.
"Oh, wow, they really just vanish, huh? Oh, that's rude."
Somehow, The Flash is still on deck at DC, and for a while it was supposed to feature
cameos from nearly every original member of the cinematic Justice League. Although
Ben Affleck is still reportedly in the film as Batman, the multiverse-jumping movie has
now lost Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, and Henry Cavill's Superman.
Although the scenes previously filmed by Cavill were reportedly still attached to
the film as of early December 2022, the cameo was reported to have been cut just a few weeks later.
Regardless of anyone else's plans for the DC cinematic universe, James Gunn and Peter Safran
are now indisputably in charge of the franchise going forward. Despite officially taking over on
November 1st, 2022, Gunn has been preoccupied with wrapping up production on Guardians of
the Galaxy Vol. 3 for Marvel. Gunn even managed to release The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday
Special amidst the chaos of the last couple of months, so it's understandable that Gunn
and Safran haven't been able to solidify a plan for their newly configured DCU until recently.
Taking on a position of such influence requires a little adjustment, but as Safran and Gunn toiled
away at a new outline for the DCU, the director was not shy about teasing the future. Clearly
avoiding the layers of secrecy for which Marvel is so notorious, Gunn has posted images on social
media of certain characters that were presumably under consideration for big-screen adaptations,
including Lobo, Mister Terrific, and the aged heroes of the Kingdom Come story arc. Finally,
on December 14th, Gunn updated fans on the status of the franchise, tweeting:
"Peter [Safran] and I have a DC slate ready to go [...] we'll be able to share
some exciting information about our first projects at the beginning of the new year."
In the same thread, James Gunn dropped a bomb
on one particular corner of his new DCU. Gunn revealed:
"Among those on the slate is Superman. In the initial stages, our story will be focusing
on an earlier part of Superman's life, so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill."
The news was a shock considering the hype around Man of Steel 2
had been progressively building to that moment. Gunn continued:
"But we just had a great meeting with Henry,
and we talked about a number of exciting possibilities to work together in the future."
Cavill took to Instagram to confirm the same news. In his post, he sent one final
message of hope from the actor who was the Man of Steel for nearly a decade:
"Superman is still around. Everything he stands for exists, and the examples he sets for us
are still there! My turn to wear the cape has passed, but what Superman stands for never will."
If nothing else, fans who have advocated for Zack Snyder's original concept of the
DCEU have been outspoken and passionate. Even as Peter Safran and James Gunn solidify their
new outline for the comic book franchise, many of those fans have been as loud as ever. While
not every fanatic has been completely opposed to the redirection, there has been a flurry of
social media campaigns asking to "Bring back Zack Snyder" and "Restore the Snyderverse."
Meanwhile, Dwayne Johnson, who advocated for Henry Cavill to be
reinstated as Superman in the first place, has been eerily quiet about
the dismissal as he awaits his own news about the future of Black Adam.
"There's no one on this planet that can stop me."
Some have been quick to blame the former wrestler for exploiting the return of Cavill in his attempt
to take control of the DCEU. Subsequently, many of Cavill's DCEU peers, including Jason
Momoa and Zachary Levi, have reached out with their own messages in the comments of
the former Man of Steel's Instagram announcement. Meanwhile, Black Adam producer Dany Garcia wrote:
"You are and will always be our Superman."
Many DC fans are now looking forward to the future of the Last Son of Krypton. The film
that Gunn has been scripting will not retell Kal-El's origin story again,
but will focus instead on his earlier days as a hero. Yet despite Warner Bros.
Discovery CEO David Zaslav's mandate to cut back on multiple versions of DC superheroes
existing at the same time, there is one more Superman movie in the works.
Ta-Nehisi Coates has been scripting his own version of the Man of Steel's story
since February 2021, which would introduce a Black Superman to the world of DC cinema. The new film,
which is not attached to the DCEU, has been produced by J.J. Abrams and his
Bad Robot company. While many DC projects have hit the chopping block in recent days,
no cancellation for this project has been announced... yet.