Battle To Save Henry Cavill’s Superman Job Happening Inside WB
Henry Cavill might be on the outs as Superman, but there is a contingent of Warner Bros. executives who are lobbying to keep him
This article is more than 2 years old
Henry Cavill is still Superman. Except that Henry Cavill might be out as Superman. Except that, wait, he’s still Superman. See what we have going on here? There appears to be no straight answer on what the future holds for the actor. But that might also be because even the studio doesn’t know the path. Insider Daniel Richtman is reporting that there’s an internal conflict at Warner Bros. about what to do with the actor with one faction lobbying hard to keep him around in the role.
This latest rumor comes on the heels of Zack Snyder’s Justice League hitting HBO Max late last week and possibly breathing new life into the franchise. There’s a conflicting opinion on whether the movie itself was enough to save the slew of characters, but there’s no doubt it brought quite a bit of talk around the universe in general. And with the future of Henry Cavill as Superman in a state of flux, it may have ignited some internal studio dialogue about how to best proceed.
Some of the news stems from DC and Warner Bros’ decision earlier in the month to go a different direction with the character of Superman. J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot production company were brought in and signed Ta-Nehisi Coates to pen a script around a new version of the character. All signs point to Superman now being a black actor with the possibility of a Calvin Ellis storyline in place of the Clark Kent version. Obviously, this would leave Henry Cavill out of the mix if the studio was looking for a reset.
Now, in the world of superhero movies and extended universes, having one version of a character isn’t mutually exclusive to another actor filling the role as well. This is what happens when introducing different timelines or even alternate realities. Look no further than Marvel and the Multiverse for examples around how studios can have their proverbial cake and eat it too with some casting decisions. Will this apply to Henry Cavill and his future? It could if Warner Bros executives want to keep him around. Maybe there’s a world in which this current DC timeline lives on with another born in another dimension. Comic books do this literally all of the time.
As for Henry Cavill, the future isn’t quite known. His name has been attached to all kinds of rumors in the short term. There’s been everything from him sticking around in cameos in the Superman role, to playing an evil version of the character, to even moving into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Captain Britain. Plus, there’s the rumor about a possible Mass Effect movie coming down the pike. And we still have Season 2 of The Witcher starting production. The guy could potentially still be very busy going forward.
Right now, the dance card for Henry Cavill is looking thin with no actual works in pre-production. But there are so many apparent irons in the fire that things could change very quickly on that front. Especially if some WB folks want to keep him in his most popular role.
