James Gunn is Writing a New ‘Superman’ Movie – Without Henry Cavill
The DC Films co-CEO clarified his statements from Monday about prioritizing a Superman movie – and it’s bittersweet.
DC has been in upheaval since this summer with projects being canceled and dates being shifted by months. The hiring of James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-CEOs of a renamed DC Films has calmed things down a bit. That doesn’t mean that all is hunky-dory and that it’s all good news for every fan from here out. Earlier this week, Gunn stated that Superman was a “huge priority”, but he didn’t get into what that entailed.
He took to Twitter to add some detail to what he’s planning…
“Peter & I have a DC slate ready to go, which we couldn’t be more over the moon about; we’ll be able to share some exciting information about our first projects at the beginning of the new year. Among those on the slate is Superman. 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. But we just had a great meeting with Henry, and we’re big fans, and we talked about a number of exciting possibilities to work together in the future.”
Gunn has been working on a Superman script for a while, according to Variety. The story focuses on Clark Kent’s life as a young reporter in Metropolis, where he meets Lois Lane and other key characters. Somewhere in between Smallville and the grown Clark we’ve seen in recent movies.
Superman Year One art by John Romita Jr. – via DC
The Superman Movie That Won’t Be
This comes a bit over a month after DC told fans Cavill would be putting on the cape again – getting all of us excited for a return. They should have waited till the dust settled at the studio. (And here I was, hoping for the McQuarrie/Cavill movie of my dreams. Oh, well.) Based on Gunn’s statement, Cavill isn’t out of DC projects entirely. He may be playing other characters, just not Superman. It’s sad that he won’t get to play the Kal-El he wanted to, but it just didn’t work out.
The actor has publicly responded to the news via Instagram:
“It’s sad news, everyone. I will, after all, not be returning as Superman. After being told by the studio to announce my return back in October, prior to their hire, this news isn’t the easiest, but that’s life. I respect that James and Peter have a universe to build. I wish them and all involved with the new universe the best of luck, and the happiest of fortunes.”
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