You have to admire Warner Bros. and DC Films shifting their approach when it comes to their superhero output, with the plans to try and replicate the Marvel formula being dropped in favor of making it up as they go along. Just a couple of years ago, Ben Affleck was set to headline The Batman, but now the studio is moving forward with two franchises for the Dark Knight, neither of which are going to involve the actor.
Meanwhile, based on how things are going, the most likely scenario for the next Superman movie is that it won’t star Henry Cavill. After all, Man of Steel was released eight years ago, but WB have shown very little interest in a direct sequel, despite recently signing the actor to a contract extension. Indeed, even before Cavill put pen to paper, there was talk making the rounds that the Big Blue Boy Scout was going to be rebooted with a new star in the role, and we’ve now heard that J.J. Abrams could be the man to do it.
According to our intel – which comes from the same sources that told us Justice League Dark was in the works for HBO Max long before it was announced – one of the projects the filmmaker is eying under Bad Robot’s exclusive development deal with Warner Bros. is a standalone Superman blockbuster, almost two decades after he wrote the script for the abandoned Flyby.
It’s unclear if he would direct or just produce, and it’s also unknown which version of the hero the pic would feature or who could play him. But we’re told that while Cavill can still appear for cameos in future DC movies, he won’t be the face of the reboot and there’ll be multiple Men of Steel flying around the DCEU for a bit, kind of like we now have with Keaton, Affleck and Pattinson all playing the Dark Knight.
Of course, this would be far from the first time the polarizing director has been linked with Krypton’s favorite son over the last couple of years, but Joker and hopefully The Batman will prove that DC movies can flourish outside of the main timeline, regardless of whether or not it’s Henry Cavill under the suit.
