Amid dealing with the ongoing fallout of Henry Cavill’s Superman exit, a news that was received with heavily mixed reactions online, DC Studios co-CEO and filmmaker James Gunn is firing back this time at the accusations that he fired Cavill from his Superman role after his return as the superhero in 2022 film Black Adam.
According to Entertainment Weekly, while unveiling their new vision for the DC Universe on Monday, Gunn revealed that Cavill, who publicly confirmed his return as the superhero in October following his cameo in Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam, had never actually been recast as the character in the first place.
“We didn’t fire Henry. Henry was never cast,” Gunn said. “For me, it’s about who do I want to cast as Superman and who do the filmmakers we have want to cast. And for me, for this story, it isn’t Henry.” He further explained, “I like Henry, I think he’s a great guy. I think he’s getting dicked around by a lot of people, including the former regime at this company.
“But this Superman is not Henry, for a number of reasons,” he added. Gunn previously announced in December that he is writing a Superman film, Superman: Legacy, which will not star Cavill. The film will “focus on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing,” per a press release, and debut on July 11, 2025.
As Gunn says, his new Superman installment will mark “the true beginning of the DCU.”
