Why Henry Cavill Isn’t Returning as Superman

The DC superhero films have struggled to find their footing. Compared to the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, the DC releases have not performed as well with fans or critics. But even when the movies themselves aren’t great, the actors playing the heroes tend to be the only saving grace. One shining light was Henry Cavill’s Superman.

Cavill starred as Clark Kent/Superman in three movies: Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League. This year, he had a brief cameo as the iconic superhero in the most recent DC movie, Black Adam. At the end of October, soon after the release of Black Adam, Cavill confirmed his return to the DC film universe. Sadly, it has now been revealed that Cavill’s Man of Steel won’t be returning after all.

Is Henry Cavill Still Superman?

Around the same time that Cavill proclaimed his comeback, DC made another announcement about the future of DC films: James Gunn, along with Peter Safran, would soon take over as studio heads and would have full control over the creative future of the DC movie universe. In addition to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Gunn has made some of the best entries to the DC franchise: 2021’s The Suicide Squad and the Peacemaker HBO series.

On December 15, DC revealed that Gunn’s vision of Superman’s future doesn’t include Cavill. Gunn’s new Superman project will instead focus on a younger version of the character, one who’s not in the same age range as Cavill’s hero. Cavill himself took to Instagram and officially announced that, after DC assured his continued portrayal of the character, he had met with Gunn and Safran, and will no longer be reprising his role as Superman. His statement was simple, and Cavill thanked fans who have supported his take on the beloved comic book character.

For those of us who love Cavill, the news feels like another blow. After the October announcement that he would be Superman again, news also broke that Cavill would not return to play Geralt in Netflix’s The Witcher after season 3. Rumors swirled that Cavill had not agreed with changes the writers of the show made from the source novels (Cavill is a devoted fan of the book series). Playing Superman again may have also been a factor in his decision to leave The Witcher. Unfortunately, he will not be returning as either character. We will just have to watch the older Superman movies and binge The Witcher while we wait for more geeky Cavill projects to be announced.

(featured image: Warner Bros.)