James Gunn denies firing Henry Cavill as Superman, says the old DC regime ‘d*cked him around’

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.

“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.