James Gunn has admitted that having to tell Henry Cavill that he was being replaced as Superman was “unfair” and and a “total bummer”.
- READ MORE: ‘Superman’ review: James Gunn puts some pep back in Clark Kent’s pants
Cavill played the DC character in Man Of Steel, 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice and 2017’s Justice League. He also made a cameo at the end of Black Adam in 2022 before Cavill confirmed he would no longer be involved in Gunn’s vision of the DC Universe.
Now speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gunn opened up about how he broke the news to Cavill that he wouldn’t be returning to the role after he became the co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran.
“We were dealing with trying to figure out if we could take the job at DC Studios, and we’re talking to David Zaslav and all the legal people there, and figuring out what our deals would be,” he recalled. “And the day our deal closed, all of a sudden they were announcing that Henry was back.”
“I’m like, what is going on? Like, we know what the plan is, the plan was to come in and do Superman,” he said, referring to the new 2025 film that sees David Corenswet take on the titular role.
Gunn added: “That was really unfortunate, I’m like, this poor guy. And so Peter [Safran] and I [knew] the right thing to do is to sit down with [Cavill] and talk to him. And we sat down, we talked to him, he was an absolute gentleman, a great guy about it. He said, ‘The only thing I ask is that I’m able to reveal it myself as opposed to it coming from you guys.’”
The Guardians Of The Galaxy director went on to say “it was really unfair to him [Cavill] and was a total bummer,” but there were outside influences who “wanted to take on what they wanted to do at DC and were trying to force their way and it just was never a part of the equation.”
When asked if it would be “too confusing” to cast Cavill in another DCU role, Gunn said: “Absolutely not. I talked to him about it on that day. I would love to put Henry in something.”
His comments come after he previously denied sacking Cavill from the role and said he simply wasn’t hired for future projects.
More recently, Gunn discussed why he turned down the opportunity to direct Cavill in Man Of Steel 2 in 2018 as part of the previous DC timeline.
In a three-star review, NME wrote of the new Superman film: “To give Gunn his due, he crafts a world that’s as close to the DC Comics Superman that we’ve ever seen, with characters like the shapeshifting Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) adding real texture. It’s a promising start-point to his plans for the DC Universe.”
“And while the good-versus-evil plot does little to push the envelope, the idea of Superman being an alien peacekeeper is surely going to stir up political controversies back in Gunn’s MAGA-homeland. Mainly, though, just give us more Krypto – this canine really is super.”
