It appears that Warner Bros. and DC Films will be hunting for a newSupermanafter talks betweenHenry Cavilland the studio broke down. Cavill was in initial talks to make a cameo inShazam!, but apparently couldn’t come on board due to a scheduling conflict. Neither Warner Bros. and DC Films, nor Cavill have confirmed the news at this time. According to insiders close to the situation, ever since theShazam!talks fell through, the British actor’s door is rapidly closing on future Superman appearances as well.
Warner Bros. and DC Films have been shying away from the shared universe with their latest projects, but are continuing with Jason Momoa’sAquaman, which hits theaters in December, as well as Gal Gadot’sWonder Woman 1984and Ezra Miller’sFlashmovie. The recently announcedSupergirlproject is taking precedent over anyMan of Steelfilm, which is set to be an origin story for the character and will take place when Superman is an infant. As for anotherMan of Steelmovie, sources say that the studio isn’t planning on making another one for a few years.
According to sources close to Warner Bros. and DC Films, they’re comparing theMan of Steelseries to theJames Bondfranchise, stating, “after a certain run you have to look at new actors.” It appears that Henry Cavill is out much like Ben Affleck, who is also heavily rumored to be out from Matt Reeves’The Batmanproject. Rumors have been swirling for over a year now that Affleck is done playing the Caped Crusader, but he and the studio have yet to make an official announcement.
Adding to the scheduling conflicts situation is the fact that Henry Cavill signed on to Netflix’sThe Witcherseries. However, sources claim that Cavill made that decision after theShazam!conflict, which seems to point at the studio moving in another direction to reboot their DC Universe after the box office failure ofJustice Leagueand the lackluster response toBatman v Superman. Along withSupergirl, DC Films is also preparing to start production on Todd Phillips’Jokermovie, which stars Joaquin Phoenix, and is said to be a lower budget character study.
The step away from the shared universe within DC has been in the making for quite a while now and it looks like Henry Cavill has hung up his cape for good this time andMan of Steel 2will never see the light of day. Patty Jenkins’Wonder Womanwas the first real bit of success for DC Films since Christopher Nolan’sDark Knighttrilogy, and the studio is looking to reboot their universe in order to fully compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For now, it looks like Cavill and Ben Affleck are out.The Hollywood Reporterwas the first to announce the news of Henry Cavill leaving the DCEU.
