James Gunn Had Nothing to Do With Henry Cavill Being Fired as Superman, and He Proved It

As you probably know by now, Cavill portrayed Superman in the ill-fated DCEU. His last appearance was teased in ‘Black Adam,’ the movie that was both a critical failure and a box-office money dump. Cavill appeared in the post-credit scene of the movie, teasing a clash between two powerful characters.

Cavill’s reprisal of the role was ultimately teased as the actor was confirmed to get one more standalone movie, only for the studio to officially bury the DCEU just a few weeks after his announcement that he is returning to the role.

After the release of ‘Black Adam,’ few anticipated its dramatic flop, especially given the post-credits scene teasing Henry Cavill’s Superman. A sequel to ‘Man of Steel’ was in the works, with plans for Black Adam to play a significant role in the DCEU’s future.

When the film failed, WB executives decided to scrap the entire universe, despite Cavill being previously instructed to tell fans he was returning as Superman. Weeks later, the studio announced Cavill’s dismissal and revealed there were no plans involving Black Adam or Cavill’s Superman.

James Gunn, who took the brunt of the backlash, became the center of various conspiracy theories suggesting he had always intended to reboot the DCEU and replace the existing actors, since his work on ‘Peacemaker’ and ‘Suicide Squad.’

The major shocker came months later when James Gunn and Peter Safran announced their upcoming DCU slate, and one of the movies was ‘Superman’ at the time titled ‘Legacy.’

Now following this announcement and the brief description of the movie it was quite obvious that Gunn will be aiming for a younger Superman, despite the director adamantly claiming that the movie is not an origin story.

This was ultimately confirmed when David Corenswet was cast in the role.

James Gunn however decided to clear up some things, and his statements revealed that once again it had nothing to do with him but as it turns out Warner Bros. never waited to see whether ‘Black Adam’ would flop or not as he was hired to pen the script for ‘Legacy’ prior to the movie’s release:

It’s quite clear that Gunn is not to blame here, as the studio very clearly used Superman in an attempt to save ‘Black Adam’ from collapse and kept the eventual reboot of the DCEU under tight wraps. The cameo ultimately did not save the box office, but the question remains, why did the studio tell Cavill to share the rumors with fans?

I get what they were trying to accomplish with “hints” “insinuations” and “teases.” But was it really necessary for Cavill to go out of his way to truly confirm that a sequel to ‘Man of Steel’ was in the works?

We will never know. Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!

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