Was Henry Cavill fired from Superman? ‘Man of Steel’ star’s DC timeline, explained

Yes, Henry Cavill is no longer attached to play Superman in any future DC projects, but we wish the explanation for that was as straightforward as the actor simply being fired from the role.

Henry Cavill’s stint as Superman started out as high as the character flies with Man of Steel, before going off the radar, making a surprise appearance, and finally retiring for good.

The 2013 movie is widely regarded as one of the DC Extended Universe’s best. Man of Steel was one of the first pieces in DC’s attempt to build a cinematic franchise that could emulate what Kevin Feige was doing at Marvel Studios.

Henry Cavill was the apple of Zack Snyder’s eye. The director was heavily involved in the DCEU’s early days, taking the reins of Man of Steel, 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and 2017’s Justice League. All three of these films had Cavill as one of the protagonists.

Snyder was also heavily involved as an executive producer in other DCEU films, like Aquaman and both Suicide Squad movies, as well as a producer in both Wonder Woman outings, before he had to exit Justice League after personal tragedy struck. He become a symbol of the DCEU’s early potential, and as the franchise’s quality rapidly decreased, fans turned to Snyder as the only one that could bring it back to glory.

Cavill’s gradual distance from the franchise happened more or less concurrently with Snyder’s exit from Justice League. Joss Whedon took over and finished the main version of the superhero team-up movie we all know, but don’t necessarily love.

Shortly after Snyder left, Walter Hamada assumed control of DC Films, the now-defunct Warner Bros. division tasked with overseeing live action adaptations of DC Comics IP. It soon became clear that Hamada did not plan on carrying out Snyder’s initial plans for the franchise, which meant less focus on both Cavill’s Superman and Ben Affleck’s Batman.

Reports that Star Wars director J.J. Abrams was working on a Superman reboot with a totally different take on the character also didn’t help matters as fans saw the chances of Cavill ever returning to the DCEU wither away.

The British actor did not feature as Superman again until 2022’s Black Adam, which was marketed as his big return to the character, hopefully for a significant amount of time. The actor was excited about it, posting an announcement to social media, that raised fans’ hopes that Snyder’s vision for the DC universe could somehow still be partially brought to life.

Cavill called his cameo in the Dwayne Johnson-led movie “a very small taste of things to come,” so when, less than two months later, he took to Instagram again to announce his time as Superman was officially over, the whiplash was real, and a little painful.

If the appointment of The Suicide Squad director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran as Hamada’s successors was at one point regarded as a good omen for Snyder’s triumphant return to the franchise (and with him Cavill and Affleck), now it really does look like it’s finally time to move on.

In his post, Cavill informed the fans that following a meeting with Gunn and Safran he was told he would not be returning as Superman. The actor’s message also implied that Warner Bros. did possibly have long-term plans for his involvement in the DC universe following Black Adam, before the new CEOs changed the studio’s plans.

Naturally, fans are blaming the new leadership, especially after Gunn shared that he is writing, but not directing, a new Superman movie, focused on Clark Kent/Kal-El’s early years. He specifically clarified that this would not be an origin story.

In the same thread, Gunn goes on to say that him and Safran are “big fans” of Cavill and that, during the meeting, the three men “talked about a number of exciting possibilities to work together in the future.” We’re not sure exactly what that means, but in his post Henry Cavill makes it sound like whatever “exciting possibilities” there are, they will have little to do with the character of Superman.

So no, Henry Cavill wasn’t fired from playing Superman, but rather respectfully turned away as DC attempts to start a new, hopefully more coherent, multimedia story from scratch.

What the actor wants fans to remember, though, is that “we can mourn for a bit, but then we must remember… Superman is still around.” All DC movies starring Henry Cavill are available to stream on HBO Max. Black Adam arrives on the platform this Friday, Dec. 16.