It’s been a rough few days for Henry Cavill‘s Superfans. Just a handful of weeks ago, it seemed all was right with the DC world as Cavill’s Superman had, after years of absence, finally showed up in an official DCEU franchise offering, appearing in Black Adam‘s post-credits scene to the delight of fans. But the recent fallout surrounding the shape of the future DCU has many worrying about whether that may not be the last we see of Cavill sporting the big “S” on his chest. And DC Studios CEO James Gunn doesn’t seem to be helping much.
Today, Dec 8, Gunn responded to yesterday’s bombshell revelation that the studio would not be proceeding with several greenlit projects, most notably Patty Jenkins’ third installment in the DCEU Wonder Woman franchise. Many have surmised that this is the first step in a complete shutdown of the so-called “Snyderverse,” which includes the Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman franchises as well as the multi-hero Justice League movie. A Man of Steel sequel has been on the boards for some time now — but its fate seems uncertain — even if it hasn’t been officially shelved.
Gunn’s tweet took an “oil upon the waters” conciliatory tone — while neglecting to name any specific projects that may be upon the cutting block. Stating that “some of it is true, some of it is half-true, some of it is not true, & some of it we haven’t decided yet whether it’s true or not,” Gunn left the future of the new DCU as nebulous as it has been ever since it was announced he and Peter Safran would be taking up the reins at DC. Not that that hasn’t stopped the all-too-familiar internet gnashing of teeth declaring the DCU doomed from the outset and demanding the unlikely restoration of the Snyderverse outright.
However, a fair amount of online fans seem to be satisfied with Gunn’s honesty — and are willing to wait for the construction to actually start before they begin criticizing how the dust has settled.
Gunn has faced hard criticism from many since his ascendancy, especially from the multitude of diehard Snyder fans. But it seems that many are willing to, at the very least, take a wait-and-see attitude towards the inevitable shakeups that lie in store as the DCU overlaps or overtakes the remaining DCEU. Not that that will do much to comfort anyone who has convinced themselves that Gunn and Safran have fired the entire Justice League outright despite any hard evidence to support the theory.
Gunn added several addendums to his initial post asking for patience from the fans. It seems that no answers are going to be forthcoming until Gunn and Safran have scoped out exactly what the future holds and until then, massive speculation is sure to ensue. Though it seems unlikely that the pair would throw away assets such as the current cast of Justice League, who are widely admired even by critics of the Snyderverse, there’s still no way to say that a scorched earth hard reboot won’t occur.
“We are giving these characters & the stories the time & attention they deserve & we ourselves still have a lot more questions to ask & answer,” Gunn writes in his last Tweet on the matter. It seems that all of us, including Gunn himself, are in for a wait before we begin to see what the DCU will ultimately look like.
