The faux animosity between James Gunn and Henry Cavill has been the epicenter of controversy, debate, and speculation ever since the DC Studios CEO announced the arrival of a younger Superman in the franchise. That announcement, however welcome, was coupled with the fact that the Man of Steel actor would be required to hang up his cape for the rest of DC to get a much-needed fresh start.
A recent report has now worked to negate that claim saying the executive decision to move Henry Cavill away from the DC franchise was an act equivalent to punishment and it was made inherently clear when all residual SnyderVerse actors were given the opportunity for a future arc in DC, with the sole exemption of Cavill.
James Gunn’s Vendetta Against Henry Cavill as Superman
A scathing criticism at the James Gunn and Henry Cavill tug-of-war has been levied by the Youtuber Ryan Kinel via his channel RK Outpost in which he succinctly points out that if a universe reboot was the plan all along, then why would every other SnyderVerse actor ranging from Ezra Miller to Gal Gadot to Jason Momoa, even Zachary Levi, be given a place in the new DCU, but not Cavill?
Also read: James Gunn Debunks Rumors He Has Cast This Actor To Replace Henry Cavill in Superman: Legacy
Ryan Kinel argues that James Gunn has gone as far as to change the narrative after kicking Cavill out of DC. Gunn’s most recent announcement of the DCU slate was accompanied by a statement about how Cavill wasn’t fired because he was never hired (by the current CEOs) to begin with. Earlier, Gunn also claimed, “What matters most is the actor that fits the role & they’re easy to work with” which many had taken to mean that the director finds Cavill difficult. Kinel claims,
“James Gunn has been getting backlash for months ever since taking over as head of DC Studios, primarily for the decision he made at the very beginning that Henry Cavill would not be returning as Superman despite the fact that he was brought back for the Black Adam post-credit scene, despite the fact that him and DC and Warner Bros. all put together this big message about Henry Cavill returning as Superman.
Well now, after James Gunn has dropped his plans for the next several years of the DC universe, fans aren’t very happy that it looks like he’s deciding to keep everybody except for Henry Cavill. And now James Gunn is even going so far as to try to change the narrative saying, ‘Hey, we didn’t fire Henry Cavill. He was simply never cast.’ Well, you made a big announcement… DC, Warner Bros. – before you were there, right – made this big announcement about him being there in the future, and then you sat down for a meeting with Henry Cavill, you told him, ‘You aren’t gonna be Superman,’ and you did basically a joint statement that he will no longer be continuing as Superman. It pretty much sounds like he was fired for all intents and purposes.”
A tweet from The Den of Nerds on December 10th about Gunn hating the Superman actor was retorted against by The Suicide Squad director replying “False” and later stating that the reason behind Cavill’s recasting “is very simple, he’s a different age.”
The Current Narrative of DCU in the Absence of Henry Cavill
The second week of December 2022 was a tumultuous period for DC and its corresponding fandom. People were still coming to terms with the roller coaster year they had had – with the breakdown of the power structure at Warner Bros. David Zaslav’s unilateral scything of projects every other day, the arrival of Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam, the promise of Henry Cavill’s resurrection as the Man of Steel, and the eventual cataclysmic failure of the last two.
When all of that was topped off with Cavill announcing two months later that – “I will, after all, not be returning as Superman” – people remembered how he had claimed after Black Adam premiere that his return marks “The dawn of hope renewed” and rioted. James Gunn announced on December 14th, “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.”
Currently, the plan is for The Flash to be the saving grace of the remnants of DCEU. David Zaslav and James Gunn’s strong advocacy for Ezra Miller’s DC movie is based off of the fact that the film’s Flashpoint narrative will allow several Elseworlds plotlines to move forward. Without The Flash, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, and perhaps even The Rock’s Black Adam will not find a chance for revival in the DC Elseworlds narrative.
Source: Ryan Kinel
