James Gunn, the co-head of DC Studios, has directly addressed a fan’s weird accusation of lying about his intentions for Superman when he was first hired by Warner Bros.
The fan suggested a “conspiracy theory” that Gunn always planned to reboot the DC universe and make his own Superman movie after completing The Suicide Squad, thereby “screwing over” Henry Cavill’s portrayal of the Man of Steel.
A fan asked: “I’m going to infer that the ‘we were lied to’ angle is regarding a popular conspiracy theory that you were always planning on rebooting DC and making your own Superman movie when you first got hired by Warner Bros. and finished The Suicide Squad, hence ‘intending on always screwing over Cavill’ and “lying to the fans” since you said you had (at the time) no interest in running DC, and didn’t want to make a Superman movie.”
In response, Gunn stated: “I don’t quite understand how that fits. Aside from the fact I had no interest in running DC until Peter decided to do it with me so he could focus on exec stuff & I could focus on creative, when I was hired to write Superman it was always intended as & pitched as a new Superman story, so why would I lie about not planning that at the Squad premiere which would have amounted to the same thing at the end of the day? How does this particular conspiracy theory make sense?”
The decision to reboot the DC Universe under James Gunn’s guidance has faced backlash from some fans, especially those Zack Snyder DCEU fans who were disappointed to see their favorite actors departing their previous roles. Chief among them was Henry Cavill, whose tenure as the big-screen Man of Steel appeared to be continuing after his Black Adam cameo led to Warner Bros. publicly endorsing his Superman return.
However, those plans were swiftly reversed when Gunn took the reins at the newly formed DC Studios. Within days, Cavill was informed he would not be reprising the role of Kal-El, as Gunn intended to cast a new actor in the Superman part for his new vision of the DC Universe.
“First of all, we didn’t fire Henry,” Gunn previously said during the DC Studios event. “Henry was never cast. Henry was in a cameo and that was the end of his story. A lot of people made assumptions out of that that weren’t necessarily true. But for me, it’s about who I want to cast as Superman and who does the filmmaker who is making a movie want to cast. For me, for this story, it isn’t Henry. I like Henry. He’s a great guy. I think he’s gotten getting di—d around by a lot of people, including former regimes at this company. This Superman is not Henry… for a number of reasons.”
Superman which is currently in production, will open in theaters on July 11, 2025.
