DC bosses say Henry Cavill was never "fired" as Superman

Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel
(Image credit: Warner Bros./DC)

DC bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran say Henry Cavill was never ousted as Superman and was instead "never cast" in the first place.

After it was announced last year that Man of Steel 2 was canceled and a new Superman movie was being written without Cavill, Gunn says much of the news shared at the time was simply rumor.

"For me, for this story, it isn't Henry. I like Henry. He's a great guy. I think he’s gotten dicked around by a lot of people, including former regimes of this company. But this Superman isn't Henry for a number of reasons," Gunn explained (H/T Deadline). 

We didn't fire Henry. Henry was never cast. He was in a cameo, and that was the end of his story. A lot of people made assumptions which weren't true," said Gunn, "But for me, it’s about who do I want to cast as Superman and who do the filmmakers want to cast."

"There's no reason why all the people you mentioned couldn’t be part of the DCU, we just haven't decided what the story is that we want to tell that incorporates Shazam or Aquaman," Safran continued, explaining that any prior DC actor could essentially be asked back for a future project. Jason Momoa is reportedly still set to play Aquaman in a third movie for DC.

A new Superman movie is set to arrive in 2025, which will "focus on Superman's balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing."

For more, check out our roundup of every new movie and show confirmed by James Gunn and DC Studios.

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Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.