Next year, within the space of eight months we’re going to see three actors play completely different versions of Batman, when Robert Pattinson suits up for the first time in Matt Reeves’ reboot, before Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton both reprise their respective Bruce Waynes in The Flash.
Not only that, but Jared Leto is set to return as the Joker in less than two weeks when Zack Snyder’s Justice League debuts on HBO Max, less than a year and a half after Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips’ billion dollar behemoth hit the big screen. By that logic and that logic alone, the door is far from closed on Henry Cavill’s tenure as Superman.
J.J. Abrams might be producing a reboot with a script from Ta-Nehisi Coates, but that doesn’t mean whoever ends up donning the spandex is going to be the one and only Man of Steel. Warner Bros. and DC Films have made their intentions clear that various standalone movies can exist outside the continuity of the DCEU, and Cavill remains under contract, so Abrams’ project is more likely to be in the vein of Joker or The Batman, rather than a straightforward replacement.
On that note, tipster Mikey Sutton is now reporting that the plan is to move forward with two simultaneous Big Blue Boy Scouts, as Calvin Ellis will take top billing in the upcoming reboot. And given that the DCEU’s multiverse is set to explode into life when The Flash finally arrives in November 2022, there’s no reason why we couldn’t theoretically even see Abrams’ Superman interact with Cavill’s Kal-El one day in the future. That being said, it’s still a real kick in the teeth for The Witcher star that for whatever reason, the studio don’t seem to have any confidence or faith in his version of the character to lead a multi-film series.
