Henry Cavill may be done as Superman

Movies
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Henry Cavill, who has played Superman in three films, is parting ways with Warner Bros., sources tell The Hollywood Reporter . Though neither side is confirming, the British actor, who first donned the blue suit for 2013’s Man of Steel, and then starred in 2016’s Batman v. Superman and last year’s Justice League , is said to be hanging up the red cape.

Their explanation is weird:

Warners had been trying to enlist Cavill, who most recently co-starred in Mission: Impossible — Fallout , for a Superman cameo in Shazam! , which stars Zachary Levi and will bow April 5. But contract talks between Cavill’s WME reps and Warners broke down, and the door is now closing on other potential Superman appearances.

That’s because the studio has shifted its focus to a Supergirl movie, which will be an origin story featuring a teen superheroine. This effectively removes an actor of Cavill’s age from the storyline’s equation given that Superman, aka Kal-El, would be an infant, according to DC lore.

I literally don’t believe that’s the reason he’s done. It may be legitimate scheduling issues, and it may be Cavill just also wants out of the franchise, but there’s no way DC decided to get rid of the character of Superman as an adult just because they’re working on a Supergirl movie. She’s been younger that Clark in the comics and other media for decades, she’s younger on the Supergirl television show right now. They handwave it away as her escape ship from Krypton being bounced around and taking the long way to Earth, keeping her in stasis longer so that by the time she lands on Earth, Kal-El is already an adult.

I think Cavill just wants out. I’m not sure if that’s a studio spin (which would still be in the context of leaked info, nothing official), or speculation from the people breaking the story, but the Supergirl excuse doesn’t add up. Without more to the story, or knowing where that explanation came from, it makes the whole rumor a little harder to believe.

“Superman is like James Bond, and after a certain run you have to look at new actors," says a studio source. As such, Cavill will join Ben Affleck, who isn’t expected to reprise his role for director Matt Reeves’ forthcoming Batman stand-alone film, as a hero on the way out.

But if that quote is accurate, it does sound like he’s really on the way out, whether it’s related to Supergirl or not.

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Hmm, I like Cavill and he seems to me as good a Superman (at least in terms of his look) as we’ve seen since Christopher Reeve.

Oh well.

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God the things I would do to ensure black Superman. So many delicious racist tears to be harvested from news article comment sections and forum threads!

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Since I don’t think the acting is the main problem with these movies, I’d be worried Jordan would be saddled with the bad choices DC keeps making.

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I’m with you on this one. I’ll have several empty jars on hand to collect them!

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I believe that the DC cinematic universe is hilariously mismanaged enough that this could be a 100% legitimate reason.

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I honestly don’t care who is starring in any of these roles until they get some people to script, direct and produce the movies who know what the flying fuck they’re doing.

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Oh, hey, a Supergirl origin story! Man, that’s awesome, that’s what we’ve been missing and never had before in recent years in 2015.

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Maybe they could make it a Power Girl origin story instead?

What I’d like to see in a cinematic post-Hank Superman:

  • costume-wise, a return to the red trunks. Without them, looking at Superman is like looking at an American flag with only three red stripes and three white stripes.
  • Mark Ruffalo to star, basically reprising his role from Spotlight. Turn the focus to Clark Kent, the crusading reporter, who happens to have the ability to divert the course of mighty rivers, leap over at least eight-story buildings in a single bound, etc.
  • a reexamination of just what “Truth, Justice and the American Way” means nowadays (as opposed to flying back in the air and unleashing some heat vision). Not to mention other hot button topics like ethics in journalism.
  • They could do worse than adapt “A Superman For All Seasons” or “All-Star Superman”, I guess. Or the JL8 webcomic.
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Instead of recasting Superman, maybe they can just bring back the classic Christopher Reeves Superman with CGI. He deserves another chance.

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Cavil has something more important work ahead with The Witcher.

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Best thing if he does. Guy has better opportunities than to be stuck in limbo with WB who are clueless about DC besides Wonder-women which is becoming more apparent that it was just blind luck.

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And I didn’t get the impression Wonder Woman was a big part of their master plan; maybe that’s why it did so well.

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I think you meant George.

Barring that, I won’t be happy unless they cast Gilbert Gottfried in the role.

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Damn, that might lull me out of my superhero movie boycott!