Guardians of the Galaxy director and new DC Studios co-chairman James Gunn is writing a Superman movie that won’t involve actor Henry Cavill, which he said was “not the easiest news” after recently he announced that he would. back to paper
The new Superman film written by Gunn will take the character in a different direction and focus on the superhero’s younger years. The announcement comes amid a momentous shake-up at DC Studios and parent company Warner Brothers, which has been scaling back numerous projects to cut costs after merging with Discovery, Inc.
Cavill has played Superman since the 2013 film Man of Steel and last appeared in the role in a cameo in Black Adam earlier this year. In October, after stepping down from the lead role in the Netflix show The Witcher, he announced that he would be returning to play Superman again.
On Wednesday, Cavill wrote on Instagram that Gunn and his co-chairman, Peter Safran, had met with him to break the news.
“After all, I’m not coming back as Superman,” Cavill wrote. “After the studio told me to announce my return in October, before their hiring, this news is not the easiest, but such is life. The changing of the guard is something that happens. I I respect that. James and Peter have a universe to build. I wish them and everyone involved in the new universe the best of luck and the happiest of fortunes.”
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Fans may want to “cry a little,” he wrote, but “Superman is still here.”
“My turn to don the cape has passed, but what Superman represents never will. It’s been a fun ride with you all, onward and upward.”
Gunn’s film will focus on the hero’s younger years, during his years posing as Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, with insiders telling The Hollywood Reporter that Gunn could direct the film in addition to writing it.
“Peter and I have a DC slate ready, which we couldn’t be more excited about; we’ll be able to share some exciting information about our first projects early in the new year,” Gunn wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “Among those on the slate is Superman. In the early stages, our story will focus on an earlier part of Superman’s life, so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill. But we’ve just had a great meeting with Henry and we’re huge fans and we talked about a number of exciting possibilities for working together in the future.”
Cavill’s announcement that he would return as Superman was signed off by Warner Bros, before Gunn and Safran took on their roles at DC Studios on November 1. Just six days before that, Cavill had said in an interview that he was looking forward to playing a “hugely cheerful” Superman and that he was “really excited” for Gunn to be hired.
It was revealed on Tuesday that DC Studios’ Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins would no longer be working on a third film in the franchise. In response to the reports, he denied that he had withdrawn, writing in a lengthy open letter: “I never left. I was open to considering anything that was asked of me. I understood that there was nothing I could do moving forward nothing at this time.”
The Hollywood Reporter claims that Gunn and Safran have also met with Batman actor Ben Affleck to discuss the idea of directing them in the future.
A Black Superman film written by author Ta-Nehisi Coates and produced by JJ Abrams is reportedly still going ahead and will not be affected by Gunn’s film.
Gunn has long been in the running to make a Superman movie: In 2018, when Gunn left Marvel Studios for DC when he was temporarily fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, then-Warners boss Toby Emmerich, pushed for Gunn to take on Superman. Gunn wrote and directed The Suicide Squad.