Summary
- Henry Cavill’s return as Superman in Black Adam, only to be replaced in Superman: Legacy, is unfortunate given the timeline of James Gunn’s involvement.
- Cavill’s exit and return as Superman is made worse by the fact that DC knew he didn’t fit Gunn’s vision for Superman: Legacy, indicating they could have avoided the confusion.
- While a Superman reboot is understandable, Cavill’s portrayal of the character had the potential to be great if the DCEU had allowed him to become more like the comic book version.
A Superman: Legacy behind-the-scenes reveal makes Henry Cavill’s return as Superman before the DC Universe reboot make very little sense. Cavill never properly got his time to shine as Clark Kent, with Man of Steel showing a lot of promise for the DCEU’s Superman, but director Zack Snyder’s vision for the character, allied with DC executives wanting to pivot away from it before Superman got to be like he is in the comics, hindered Cavill’s potential as Superman. Now, James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy will introduce a new Man of Steel.
Superman: Legacy has replaced Cavill for David Corenswet, with the DC Universe version of Clark Kent set to be younger than the DCEU’s, although Corenswet’s origin story won’t be shown in his debut movie. Superman: Legacy‘s cast also includes names like Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nathan Fillion as the Green Lantern Guy Gardner. While the Superman reboot is exciting, it is hard to forget that, a year ago, Cavill returned as Superman in Black Adam, with the actor seemingly set to continue as Superman for years to come. That didn’t come to pass, and a Superman: Legacy detail makes Cavill’s whole DC exit and return way worse.
Henry Cavill Returned As Superman After James Gunn Had Started Writing His Movie… Why?
Black Adam‘s post-credits scene saw Cavill return as Superman for the first time since he had last appeared as the Man of Steel in 2017’s Justice League. The 2022 movie set up an epic confrontation between Superman and Black Adam for the future of the DCEU, only for Cavill’s exit in favor of a new Superman for the DC Universe reboot to be announced two months later. Gunn later revealed his Superman hiring timeline, which interestingly confirmed that the DCU creative chief started to work on the Superman: Legacy script months before Cavill appeared in Black Adam.
This February, Gunn revealed that he was hired to write Superman: Legacy around August 2022, two months before Cavill came back as Superman in Black Adam. With multiple reports claiming that a Man of Steel 2 was taking pitches at DC, the whole ordeal makes little sense. DC went several years without a Superman appearance, only to suddenly decide to have two versions of the hero. Cavill’s Superman exit is also made worse by Gunn’s reveal, as it was due to him not fitting Gunn’s vision for Superman: Legacy, which DC already knew about, meaning the studio could have avoided the confusion by cutting Cavill’s Superman from Black Adam.
Henry Cavill’s Superman Deserved Better, Even If A Reboot Makes Sense
The DCEU’s Superman was pretty divisive due to the character constantly being wrapped around dark themes, with Cavill’s Superman looking far more tortured than the bubbly Clark Kent from the comics. Snyder has since revealed that he planned to have Superman become like his comic book self at the end of his arc, which was cut short by the studio but ultimately should have been how the character was portrayed from the start. While Superman: Legacy makes sense, as it is meant to show Corenswet as the classic Superman, Cavill had the potential to be fantastic as a comic book-accurate Superman, but the DCEU dropped the ball with him.