The announcement that Henry Cavill would be stepping away from the role of Superman was met – as expected – with a wave of emotional reactions from fans, not to mention plenty of speculation on who could or even should replace the actor in the DC saga. Nonetheless, with no official confirmation on the news yet, many pointed out that we were being a tad bit premature in our responses.
And though Warner Bros. has remained unusually quiet on the matter, it seems that they are indeed done with Cavill as far as his Superman commitments go. You see, earlier today, Variety published a report about production on The Flash being delayed – for a change – with the solo movie for Barry Allen having its start date pushed back to late 2019. While that’s not particularly surprising, or even interesting at this stage, buried in the article was something far more juicy.
Along with confirmation that Affleck’s out as Batman, the outlet offered the following about Henry Cavill and his Superman role:
Following the box office disappointment of “Justice League,” Warner Bros. has been reevaluating its approach to making movies based on DC Comics characters. The studio is not moving forward with Batman and Superman movies featuring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill, respectively.
Again, there’s nothing from the studio on this just yet, but Variety’s pretty reliable and already, we’ve heard that Warner Bros. has their eye on Black Panther actor Michael B. Jordan to be the next Clark Kent. Meanwhile, others have said (probably jokingly) that the time’s right for Nicolas Cage to step up, though the man himself seems happy for someone else to inherit the role that he once so nearly had. And speaking of former Supermen, Dean Cain from Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman recently threw his hat into the ring, too.
Who will ultimately land the job? It’s far too early to say, and for now, all we can really do is sit tight and look forward to the immediate future of the fledgling DC Extended Universe, which continues with the release of Aquaman this Christmas – December 21st, to be specific. Beyond that, only Shazam!, Joker and Wonder Woman 1984 hold firm release dates, which tells us that the studio’s superhero franchise is still very much in a state of flux amid the ongoing DC shake-up.