James Gunn Shuts Down Henry Cavill’s Involvement In New DC Universe Project
James Gunn has shut down the idea that Henry Cavill was approached to play the DCU Frankenstein.
James Gunn has once again dashed the hopes of various DC Universe fans, this time by definitely stating that Henry Cavill was not approached to voice Frankenstein’s Monster in the upcoming Creature Commandos show. In a Tweet responding to a fan, the Guardians of the Galaxy director unequivocally said that DC Studios had gotten their first choice for Frankenstein, although he stopped short of saying who it might have been. Among all the people who no longer work for James Gunn, it seems he has to spend the majority of his time fielding questions about Henry Cavill.
Interestingly, James Gunn’s confirmation that Henry Cavill was not approached to play Frankenstein was part of a longer conversation in which he confirmed that the actor had been in discussions to play someone other than Superman in the DCU. We had previously reported that the British actor had been approached by DC Studios in that capacity and speculated that it might have potentially been for the Creature Commandos character, though we did not confirm this. It is worth mentioning that Henry Cavill is actually in discussions to play Frankenstein’s Monster for Universal Pictures, albeit not the same version of Mary Shelley’s reanimated corpse.
While we will take James Gunn’s word that Henry Cavill was never even thought of for Frankenstein and this mystery other actor was their absolute perfect choice, it is remarkable that Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to retain Cavill for the DCU in some capacity. At this point, there might be no other actor as associated with modern DC movies than Henry Cavill (with the possible exception of Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn), so basically transferring him to another office would be a bold move.
But even if James Gunn and Henry Cavill are completely done with Superman together (and he doesn’t show up in The Flash in any capacity), it seems that the actor may have his pick of franchises. Even after losing both his DCU gig and his lead role in Netflix’s The Witcher series, Cavill has been reported to be in discussions with virtually every major property in pop culture. Currently, it seems the former Last Son of Krypton is in talks to play a James Bond villain, appear in a potential third Sherlock Holmes series with Robert Downey Jr., and even develop his own Amazon Studios show for his beloved Warhammer 40K.
Beyond James Gunn’s flat-out denial that Henry Cavill was ever considered for Creature Commandos’s Frankenstein, he does not actually go so far as to say that he will not appear in the DCU in the future. Gunn’s recently announced slate of DC movies and shows is apparently only one-half of what he has planned for the next decade, so there is plenty of potential for Cavill to show up in some way. While we might be denied the chance to see that actor fitted with some neck bolts and stitches for the DCU, there is always the chance he could show up for Universal Pictures’ next attempt to launch a Dark Universe.
