Henry Cavill Was Fired As Superman Using A Scheme From The Movie Office Space
James Gunn fired Henry Cavill form his role as Superman using the same logic the two Bobs apply in one of Office Space's best scenes.
The drama surrounding the DC Universe has not subsided even after James Gunn revealed the first slate of films and shows under his vision of the revitalized franchise. Bounding into Comics reports that the controversial firing of Henry Cavill as Superman, just a few weeks after he made a grand return in the closing moments of Black Adam, is even worse given a recent admission from the new Co-CEO. In his own words, Gunn says “We didn’t fire Henry. Henry was never cast,” a statement that immediately calls to mind a famous cinematic firing scene:
Mike Judge’s timeless classic Office Space includes this incredible scene between the two Bobs, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole), and Dom Portwood (Joe Bays). Eerily similar to Gunn’s reasoning for how he didn’t fire Henry Cavill is one of the Bobs (played by John C. McGinley) explaining that Milton (Stephen Root) hasn’t been fired, they just “fixed the glitch” that was giving him a paycheck.
James Gunn, in claiming that he never cast Henry Cavill, is essentially telling fans of the DC Universe that he also “fixed the glitch” since technically, the Witcher star was never cast for Superman: Legacy. Don’t blame Gunn for firing Cavill, he didn’t fire him, he just didn’t cast him in the new movie and allowed the star to walk away from the franchise that was supposed to be his. This of course, has been rightfully pointed out on social media as a bad faith argument, but it is technically the truth as well.
In a clarifying statement, Gunn did say “For me, it’s about who do I want to cast as Superman and who do the filmmakers we have want to cast. And for me, for this story, it isn’t Henry.” When asked to clarify the clarifying statement, Gunn answered a fan’s question giving the biggest question Henry Cavill was fired, or not cast, “As I said yesterday, it is very simple, he’s a different age.”
Everything James Gunn has said makes sense and is almost to be expected of a new executive coming in to oversee a multi-million dollar franchise that with the right guidance could become a multi-billion dollar series of films and shows. Though if unlike the corporate bosses in Office Space it would be nice if he just came out and said that yes, he did fire Henry Cavill. The two Bobs are not meant to be aspirational characters, in fact, no one in that scene is supposed to be held up as a model of corporate behavior.
The sad fact is that yes, all four of those characters can be found in every office around the world. Henry Cavill is just a high-profile firing done on the sly in a manner to reduce the amount of blowback against management. If James Gunn wants to be the next Kevin Feige, making the hard decisions comes with the job, and unfortunately in this instance the new boss of the DC Universe has fallen short.
Shazam: Fury of the Gods is the next DC movie, though what impact it will have on the upcoming DC Universe is unknown, with Blue Beetle and Aquaman 2 falling into the same pit of irrelevancy. Henry Cavill was supposed to appear in Ezra Miller’s Flash movie, but after he was “not cast” that cameo was scrapped. Here’s hoping that Cavill doesn’t take after his Office Space character and decide to get revenge for the company fixing a glitch.
