James Gunn recently opened up about the moment he told Henry Cavill he would no longer play Superman, marking the Man of Steel’s official DC exit. In a new interview, he detailed how the conversation unfolded and talked about Cavill’s reaction to the news. He also explained that they made the decision before he and Peter Safran officially took over DC Studios.
What really happened after Henry Cavill returned as Superman in Black Adam
Gunn recently reflected on the brief confusion about Cavill’s Superman return in Black Adam, and a future movie tease before his eventual exit.
On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he said, “It’s terrible. 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 our deal closed, all of a sudden, they were announcing that Henry [Cavill] was back.” He added, “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.”
Further, Gunn emphasized that Cavill’s return had not been approved by Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO, David Zaslav, or aligned with DC Studios’ actual direction. He stated, “There was a vacuum at the time and a lot of people were…they wanted to take on what they wanted to do at DC and they were trying to force their way and this was just never part of the equation for David Zaslav,” possibly implying future DC plans following Dwayne Johnson-led Black Adam.
Gunn and co-chair Peter Safran chose to speak with Cavill directly. “Peter and I [knew] the right thing to do is to sit down with [Cavill] and talk to him,” Gunn said. “We sat down, we talked to him, he was an absolute gentleman and a great guy about it,” he further stated.
Cavill responded with professionalism. Gunn revealed that the only thing Cavill asked was to announce his exit himself, rather than it coming from DC Studios. Gunn’s reply to his demand – “That’s a class act.”
The DC co-CEO confirmed they discussed working together in the future and casting Cavill in the DCU as another character, despite him not returning as Superman. “I talked to him about it on that day. I would love to put Henry in something,” Gunn stated.
Originally reported by Anubhav Chaudhry on SuperHeroHype.
