Late 2022 was an interesting time for DC. “Black Adam” hit cinemas Friday October 21st 2022, and with it came a cameo with Henry Cavill as Superman, the actor subsequently confirming his return to the role on Monday October 24th.
At the same time, Dwayne Johnson seemed to be pushing for his Black Adam to become the centre of a reinvigorated DCEU following former DC boss Walter Hamada exiting.
Then several things happened in quick succession. The next day, on October 25th 2022, the new DC Studios run by James Gunn and Peter Safran was announced, with both reporting directly to Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav.
“Black Adam” flopped critically and commercially, ending any chance of Johnson having any sway at DC. By November, it was confirmed that a new slate of DC projects would be coming (revealed in January 2023), and that a new “Superman” film would be a priority. A new film that would require a new actor.
This has led to nearly three years of speculation as to what went down regarding the announcements, Gunn and Cavill’s professional relationship, and Cavill’s potential to appear in a DC project in the future.
In a new interview with Happy Sad Confused, Gunn was asked about this directly and he explained what went down and confirmed he had a in-person meeting with Cavill to tell him he wouldn’t be returning as Superman:
“Believe it or not, the day we were dealing with trying to figure out if we could take the job at DC Studios, […] the day the deal closed, all of a sudden, they were announcing that Henry was back. And I was like, ‘What is going on? We know what the plan is. The plan was to come in and do ‘Superman”. So, it was really unfair to him and a total bummer.
There was a vacuum at the time and a lot of people were… trying to be as diplomatic as possible, there were other people that had a take on what they wanted to do at DC and were trying to force their way and it was just never part of the equation for David Zaslav. We came in, and that was really unfortunate. I’m like, ‘This poor guy.’
So Peter and I said the right thing to do is to sit down with him, and talk to him… He was an absolute gentleman and a great guy about it. He said, ‘The only thing I ask is that I’m able to reveal it myself as opposed to coming from you guys.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s a class act.'”
Then asked if it would be too confusing to cast Cavill in the DC universe as another character? Gunn responded: “Absolutely not. No, I talked to him about it on that day. So yeah. No, I would love to put Henry in something. Yeah.”
Click here to see Gunn’s answer in person which begins around the 15:50 mark in the near hour-long interview.
