We now have a release date and an official title for James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy, but you can bet that the fury over Henry Cavill’s exist won’t go quietly into the night.
Even though he’s been taking the blame for the former Kal-El’s unceremonious exit, the filmmaker and co-CEO of DC Studios denied that he had anything to do with it, and even pointed the finger of blame at his predecessors for leading the actor down a road that was destined to go nowhere fast.
via Warner Bros.
“We didn’t fire Henry. Henry was never cast. For me, it’s about who do I want to cast as Superman and who do the filmmakers we have want to cast. And for me, for this story, it isn’t Henry. I like Henry, I think he’s a great guy. I think he’s getting dicked around by a lot of people, including the former regime at this company. But this Superman is not Henry, for a number of reasons.”
Needless to say, Superman: Legacy is already fighting an uphill battle to win over the doubters, but Cavill was the Man of Steel for over a decade and racked up precisely one leading role, a couple of supporting appearances, and a post-credits cameo, so how much of a legacy did he really leave behind?
Cohesion is the name of the game now, and with Gods & Monsters serving as the first chapter in the rebooted, rebranded, and rehabilitated DCU, nobody in their right mind can deny that the long-running superhero saga was in need of reinvention.
HOME / MOVIESJames Gunn’s ‘Superman’ movie gets a title and release dateBeau Paul Jan 31, 2023 12:14 pm
Image via DC Comics
The roster for James Gunn and Peter Safran’s (hopefully) new and improved DC Cinematic Universe has been released and, as expected, fans will soon get a new version of the Man of Tomorrow in just two years. The new film, entitled Superman: Legacy, is being described by Safran as the “launch” of the DCU and will likely serve as a flagship franchise as the pair expands the worldbuilding of the much-anticipated universe reboot.
The film is set to fly into theaters on July 11, 2025. According to Safran, they intend to seek a PG-13 rating, much like the last Superman reboot, Man of Steel.“Superman is definitely something that we would like to be PG-13, I’m going to make sure that is,” Safran announced at the DC Studios press conference. Safran’s co-CEO James Gunn is penning the script, which will, as Gunn has previously announced, explore Superman’s beginning days as a superhero. It will also dive into both the character’s humanity and his alien heritage.
“[O]ur next project, feature film, is really the launch of the DCU. These first few projects are kind of, you know, an amuse-bouche for what is coming up with Superman Legacy. So, James is currently writing it, we certainly hope and are hoping that he will direct it. It’s not an origin story. It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage, with his human upbringing. Superman represents truth, justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old-fashioned.”
— Peter Safran
To a new day#DCStudios #DCU #DCUChapterOne pic.twitter.com/dbGC3xczuH
— Emma (@Seguidor_deClio) January 31, 2023
Casting on the project has yet to be announced and it is also currently unknown whether or not the studio will seek out an established young actor to assume the iconic role or follow in the footsteps of 1978’s Superman, Superman Returns, and Man of Steel and cast a relative unknown for the part. As we’ve previously covered, Henry Cavill will not be returning to the DCU to portray the character as he had in the DC Expanded Universe.
