Is Henry Cavill joining the DCU? Everything we know about Man of Steel’s future
While Henry Cavill may no longer be Superman, is there a world where he may return to DC films in a different role? James Gunn is certainly up for it.
A new era is now upon us. David Corenswet is Superman, and he’s a damn good one at that. But he didn’t don the red cape without a little controversy.
In October, 2022, Henry Cavill, the prior Superman, took to social media with an announcement. After a stretch of confusion, the British actor confirmed he was “back as Superman” and that he’d be appearing again as the iconic hero. Two months later, DC Studios brought in James Gunn and Peter Safran, who confirmed they’d be going in a different direction.
“It’s sad news, everyone,” Cavill said at the time. “I will, after all, not be returning as Superman. The changing of the guard is something that happens. I wish them and all involved in the new universe the best of luck.”
But even after this abrupt departure, is there a future for Cavill in Gunn’s new DC Universe? Here’s the full rundown on what we know.
Gunn was just as confused by Henry Cavill’s messy exit as Superman
The very day Gunn’s deal closed with DC is the day Cavill announced he’d be returning as Superman. This social media post came as a huge shock to the new boss, as he explained on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz.
“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 said. “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 [from scratch].”
Ultimately, it was a “really unfortunate” situation, as Gunn put it, and he felt for Cavill in the mixup.
“Peter [Safran] and I [knew] the right thing to do is to sit down with [Cavill] and talk to him,” Gunn continued. “We sat down, we talked to him, he was an absolute gentleman, a great guy about it.”
As it turns out, they’ve had regular correspondence ever since, with Gunn admitting he’s pushing for Cavill to join them on a future project.
Is Henry Cavill joining the DCU as a different character?
Well, the jury is still out on this one. At the time of writing, nothing has been set in stone, however, DCU head Gunn is certainly eager to make it happen. As he put it, he’s a big fan of Cavill and has regular contact with the previous Man of Steel.
When asked if it might be too confusing to have Cavill join the DCU, Gunn revealed he’d already had talks about exactly that. “As another character? Absolutely not. I talked to [Cavill] about it. I would love to put Henry in something.”
So much like we’ve seen with Jason Momoa, going from Aquaman in the original Justice League lineup, to now playing Lobo in the DCU’s upcoming Supergirl, Gunn is keen to do the same with Cavill.
Exactly which character he might play is anyone’s guess for now though. Bizarro would certainly be a fun one, though that might be a little too on the nose.
Rest assured, we’ll keep you updated here as any further details emerge on Cavill’s possible future in the DCU.
