Sad news on this Hump Day as the news arrives that Henry Cavill (and his awesomely furry chest) will not appear as “Superman” in any future Warner Bros. DC films.
Cavill has played the superhero in three films, including Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017).
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warners had been after Cavill to make a cameo in the upcoming Shazam flick starring Zachary Levi. But negotiations appear to have fallen apart and as THR writes, “The door is now closing on other potential Superman appearances.”
Several theories are being bandied about as to the shift in "Super-strategy."
While one Warners source told THR that ‘scheduling conflicts’ cause the deal to disintegrate (Cavill recently signed to star in the new Netflix series, The Witcher), another source claims the Witcher offer came after the Warners negotiations.
One studio insider suggested that Warners is merely going for the commonly attempted “reset button” on the DC universe of films after admitting “some parts of the previous movies didn’t work.”
But lets be honest – THIS part of the equation totally worked:
THR also mentions that with so many DC films in the pipeline Warners isn’t likely to produce a stand-alone Superman film anytime in the near future.
Not only is the Jason Momoa Aquaman movie set to arrive this December, but Wonder Woman 1984 is due in theaters November 2019, and openly queer Ezra Miller is scheduled to start shooting a Flash movie in early 2019.
Additional reports say Warners is shifting focus to a Supergirl origin movie.
Comparing the Superman franchise to the James Bond films, a studio source said, “Superman is like James Bond, and after a certain run you have to look at new actors.”
Along that same line of thinking, THR mentions that Oscar winner Ben Affleck may have taken his last turn as "Batman."
Cavill fans might be able to hold out some hope, though.
On Twitter this morning, Cavill’s manager tweeted a somewhat cryptic message which read, “Be peaceful, the cape is still in his closet. @wbpictures has been and continues to be our partners as they evolve the DC Universe. Anticipate a WB statement later today.”
Be peaceful, the cape is still in his closet. @wbpictures has been and continues to be our partners as they evolve the DC Universe. Anticipate a WB statement later today.
— Dany Garcia (@DanyGarciaCo) September 12, 2018
No matter how this plays out, I think we can all admit we're better for Cavill bringing his furry goodness to the role of "Superman."
I believe this was all made
I believe this was all made up…it was about money for shazam…and he is doing the Witcher. Funny how everyone is saying it except the people involved. Regardless he is an engaging actor. And defiantly a man with brain and intelligence..come on who doesn't want to cuddle that scruff. I know I do..
Who’s kidding who. I read a
Who's kidding who. I read a lot of different excuses as to why he won't play this role anymore. All of them don't make any sense. What scheduling conflict? They say they won't come out with another superman movie for a couple of years, and are focused on producing Supergirl. So how can there be a scheduling conflict when they don't have any idea when in the future they will start producing a Superman movie. The other excuse is that Henri Cavill can't make a cameo appearance in an upcoming Shazam movie. So what. They are willing to exclude Henri Cavill in his role as Superman because he can't make an appearance in some other movie. This reasoning is beyond stupid. Why don't they simply tell the truth. Warners don't want to pay the high salary Cavill might be asking. So they will do what they have done before with Batman, Spiderman and other superhero, find cheaper new actors that are pathetic in these roles. People learn to identify certain actors into particular roles that they proved to be excellent in that role. In changing them, only degrades the image of these superheros. Recall Leonard Nimoy as Spock when they killed him off. So many protested that he was killed that they had to return him in the next Star Trek. Having changed the actors that played the role Batman and Spiderman over and over again has proven to be a disaster, so why now do you want to do the same with Superman. The role belongs to Henri Cavill, at least until he's too old to play it. No one will ever be able to replace him. So don't replace this role with someone else. It belongs to Henri.