Henry Cavill will never be who jumps first into my mind when I think of Superman. That honor for me, and undoubtedly many others, will always go to Christopher Reeve. No actor in a comic book film better embodied not only the look of an iconic hero but also their foundational ideology from 1978 all the way until Chris Evans in 2011. Cavill never managed to reach that level of characterization. Depending on who you asked, some would say he never even tried.
No, Cavill was not the Superman from 1978, or from the comics, or from millions of children’s imaginations over decades of what the larger than life manifestation of Truth, Justice and the American Way really looks and feels like. Should that mean he wasn’t really Superman? Not a chance.
Cavill and the Snyderverse were always more fascinated with the impact of Superman than the idea of him. Cavill’s Kal-El was someone to be revered instead of someone who inspired others. Whether that was the right choice for Warner Bros. and the future of the Superman mythos is neither here nor there. But Cavill carried the role with an awesome charisma and apparent inner conflict that reflected the cynicism and wariness which a 2013-16 society arguably necessitated. Conflict centered around questions that I would never have thought to ask about my favorite superhero prior to Man of Steel, but that were so organically-generated in-universe I was in awe of the movie and Zack Snyder for being the first to make me ask them.
Now, in a lateral but not entirely unexpected move, Cavill is rumored to have been unceremoniously dropped from the role without leaving so much as a hologram of Russell Crowe to graciously explain why. And I and many others are left to unpack the deluge of questions his departure leaves in its wake.
A DCEU without Superman? (“I know you didn’t bring me back because you like me.”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHUkdsVVEk4
The DCEU is a mess. It’s an unfortunate fact. It’s not what these characters deserve. It’s not even what I want to believe. But it’s the truth.
Ever since the end of Harry Potter and the Dark Knight trilogy, Warner Bros. has become a market follower after a decade of being a leader. Their business strategy is an embarrassingly blatant one of ready, fire, aim. They have no Kevin Feige in whom they can place their trust to steer the ship. No box office billions to shield any potentially risky decision they make. They have a room full of analysts and a bookmark on boxofficemojo.com.
“We don’t need a fully realized plan,” one middle-aged white man in a boardroom presumably says to nine others. “We just need to follow what’s popular with audiences and capitalize on it! Make the movie now and figure out how it all ties together once the numbers come back and tell us what tracks best with the core demographic.”
It’s how Man of Steel was meant to carry The Dark Knight Rises’ torch and maybe begin to be an answer to The Avengers. It’s how Batman v Superman became a slapdash response to Marvel’s perpetual conveyor belt of team-ups and crossovers in a Hail Mary attempt to launch a cinematic universe. It’s how Suicide Squad became an inverted perversion of Guardians of the Galaxy and it’s how Justice League whimpered into theaters as a shell of both whatever Snyder’s original vision was (may it never see the light of day) and the original and best Avengers film. It’s why the DCEU has never captured the imagination that Marvel has and likely never will.
Now, for the first time since 2011 (a lifetime for studio giants), Warner Bros. has a certified market leader on their hands with Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, and you can bet they are ready and willing to ride that horse into the ground. The numbers have shown the Warner Bros. executives what any non-straight white male superhero fan could have told them for years: female superheroes make money too.
Now, Amber Heard is talking up Mera’s role in Aquaman, Jenkins’s Wonder Woman 1984 releases next summer, Suicide Squad 2 has been delayed to make room for Margot Robbie’s Birds of Prey, and Henry Cavill’s scorched earth de-mustachioed Superman is eclipsed by the now more-popular (thanks to Melissa Benoist) Supergirl, set to feature her own film with a script from Oren Uziel. In short, DC postures itself as the outlet where fans can find more female-centric stories while Marvel pumps out more Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Black Panther movies. They may not have the cohesion and continuity Marvel has, but that at least gets them a seat at the table.
Will it all work the way Warners hopes? Probably not. But it will at least saturate the market with new and inspiring female superhero characters and movies. Something everyone can get on board with and which Marvel has taken an embarrassingly long time to do.
Where did that come from? (“I’m afraid I didn’t see it because I wasn’t looking.”)
The circumstances for the sudden departure are curious. Cavill is coming off a very successful run in Mission: Impossible – Fallout and was just attached to star in Netflix’s The Witcher last week. Based on a popular series of novels which spawned three successful video games, the series strongly evokes thoughts of Game of Thrones, and perhaps forces similarly demanding production schedules.
The official story is that negotiations broke down while trying to schedule Cavill to shoot a cameo for Shazam!, and Warner Bros. has begun eliminating future appearances. But after Justice League failed so spectacularly, no one had any idea when the next Cavill Superman outing would even be. The will-they-won’t-they over Man of Steel 2 has been swirling for years. But once Wonder Woman took off and Supergirl was green lit, it seems the studio had its mind made up.
But Cavill’s exit does not come without a bit of shock. Unlike Ben Affleck, famously more miserable the more he is contractually obligated to don the cape and cowl, Cavill always seemed to be enjoying his time in the DC spotlight. Press tours and publicity stunts for Batman v Superman and Justice League always made Cavill look like he was having the time of his life playing such a larger than life figurehead of popular culture. Affleck’s departure was rumored for over a year (announced by a studio source the same day as Cavill’s), but Cavill would often give the impression that he was comfortable where he was and could be counted on to show up in the cape and tights whenever the paycheck came calling.
Why now? (“What if I don’t want my story told?”)
Any word from Warner Bros. comes with a grain of salt. The studio famously announced Zack Snyder’s exit from Justice League as a personal decision stemming from Snyder’s need to be with his family following an unimaginable tragedy. It wasn’t until this February, months after the movie came and went, that it was reported Snyder may have in fact been fired by Warner Bros. months before the announcement. Any truth to that rumor remains up in the air, but Snyder’s reputation has always preceded him, and even if it was not true, fans found it incredibly easy to believe it was.
That being said, all this about a Shazam! cameo and scheduling feels similarly spun and curated to me. It feels strange that scheduling a mere cameo, maybe a day of shooting, could devolve all the way into a star of a major cinematic franchise walking away. Perhaps Cavill wanted out after it became clear Man of Steel 2 was a no-go. Perhaps he started demanding too much money following his Fallout success. Maybe he was impossible to work with and was fired. Maybe he could even have a scandal about to break that Warner Bros. is getting out in front of. Or maybe Warner Bros. is actually trying to learn from its mistakes and wash its hands of the Snyderverse and its aesthetic entirely by kicking everyone not named Gal Gadot or Margot Robbie to the curb.
Regardless, whatever the real reason for Cavill’s abrupt farewell, we are unlikely to find it in official statements and articles—especially if Cavill’s bizarre Instagram video Wednesday evening is anything to go by. Expect to check back in a year when Cavill goes more into detail about it on a press tour interview for The Witcher.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnpPIrmFN9n/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
What comes next? (“What are you going to do when you’re not saving the world?”)
Unshackled by enormous studio franchise contracts, the sky is the limit for what Cavill can do next. The Witcher will likely take up most of his time over the next year or so, but it’s hard to imagine the offers aren’t flying in right now. He is incredibly talented, as evidenced by Fallout, and impossibly handsome enough to land nearly any role he wants.
I would love to see him take a change of pace and land a part in a prestige picture. In the hands of a seasoned dramatic writer and director, I imagine Cavill has talents as yet unknown to us. Or maybe he has an untapped gift for comedy the way Dwayne Johnson and Channing Tatum did. Could we finally get the Man from U.N.C.L.E. sequel we’ve needed? Could he maybe do a tour in live theatre? Do I dare to dream (assuming MGM/United Artists insist on another white man) he could be in the perfect position to take a certain iconic role from Daniel Craig? The possibilities are as vast as Superman’s strength, and I look forward to seeing what the next step in the career is for such a charming and charismatic performer.
Ultimately, as much as I will miss Henry Cavill’s hulking presence and unnatural charm gracing the silver screen in DC movies, I do not doubt that this decision will be for the best. The recent Aquaman, Shazam! and Wonder Woman 1984 trailers and promotional materials have generated a lot of hype, the kind that Warner Bros. had to make a lot of sacrifices to earn back after so many missteps. Buzz about the future of the DCEU is positive for the first time ever and a lot of that is thanks to the new bright, colorful, fun, anti-Snyder aesthetic they go to great lengths to convey.
Cavill’s Clark Kent is the antithesis of all of that. He was the emblem of the dark, gritty, “naturalistic,” even frightening stance that distanced the DCEU from the inevitable Marvel comparisons and defined the first four films of the franchise. The question surrounding the character for Cavill and Snyder was not “what does being the Superman mean?” but rather, “what does having a Superman mean for us?” It’s a valid question, and in a better-written, more coherently-structured script, it’s one that could be fully explored in a brilliant cinematic and philosophical debate.
But Batman v Superman was too much of a critical and commercial failure to salvage any aspect for future storytelling. Justice League proved it. Even with the lighthearted, humorous dialogue Justice League attempted, it wasn’t enough to reshape people’s perspective of who this Superman is. And if Warner Bros. is going to have any hope of building a halfway decent cinematic universe at this point, they have to start over. Begin with a soft reboot, get back to basics by making individual hero character pieces and abandoning any remnant of the connective tissue between their films and the aesthetic that made them a joke to so many people.
So long, Henry Cavill. And thank you for such a unique take on an iconic character. It didn’t work for everyone, but it definitely made an impact, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. In the words of Amanda Waller, “The world changed when Superman flew across the sky. And then it changed again when he didn’t.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUbb5l0lYT8
