Henry Cavill was Superman for years and, for a while at least, it looked like he was going to continue being the Man of Steel despite DC looking to start over with its film franchise. Based on what James Gunn has had to say recently, that was never really the case.
Cavill began his reign as Superman with 2013’s Man of Steel. Though many people found flaws with that film and the numerous DCEU projects that followed, most people enjoyed the British actor’s take on the Big Blue Boy Scout. Superhero movie fans had plenty of gripes with the character of Superman in Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League, but those mostly had to do with writing problems involving Supes, not the acting of Cavill. Indeed, Cavill’s performance as Superman was revered by many, and they were excited to see him pop up in a post-credits scene for Black Adam. Many figured this meant Cavill was back as Superman for the foreseeable future, despite the ongoing behind-the-scenes turmoil surrounding DC’s film slate. Alas, this apparently was never true.
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Superman (2025): 10 Best Comics To Read Before Seeing The Movie, Ranked
Comics like All-Star Superman and the New 52’s Superman Unchained are excellent choices to read before watching James Gunn’s new Superman movie.
James Gunn was recently on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he elaborated on the confusing state of affairs with Superman when he and Peter Safran took over DC Studios. “It’s terrible,” he stated. “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.’ It was really unfair to him and a total bummer.” Gunn continued, “There was a vacuum at the time and a lot of people were… They had a take on what they wanted to do at DC, and they 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.'”
It couldn’t have been easy for Cavill to believe that he was going to continue being the face of DC Studios only for the bottom to fall out quite so quickly. Of course, Cavill has seemingly taken everything in stride, having starred in multiple films since his last appearance as Superman. He even found time to make a comical cameo in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine as a variant of the Ol’ Canucklehead. More importantly, Cavill is working with Amazon Studios on his passion project: executive producing and starring in projects related to his beloved Warhammer 40,000 franchise.
“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.’”
Things are obviously working out well for Gunn and DC, too, as the recently released Superman has been a bit of a critical and commercial darling so far. Time will tell if things go more swimmingly for the new DCU than they did for the DCEU over the past ten years and change. James Gunn and Peter Safran seem to have an all-encompassing vision for the DC slate of projects going forward, which is more than can be said for the DCEU’s ever-tumultuous slate of films throughout the 2010s and early 2020s. But, how does that saying go? “The best laid plans of mice and men…”
Superman is currently in theaters worldwide.
July 9, 2025
130 minutes
James Gunn
Lars P. Winther, Nik Korda, Peter Safran
Rachel Brosnahan
Lois Lane
Source: Happy Sad Confused
