Though the Man of Steel has been known for breaking out of chains in the past, it was today that he broke the internet when word came down that Henry Cavill is vacating his role as the silver screen’s version of Superman. Of course, the veracity of the news is still being debated, but it’s important that we consider the source is the highly respected Hollywood Reporter.
To the surprise of nobody, social media has caught fire, with everybody and their mother expressing their respective opinions regarding Cavill’s supposed departure. Personally, I’m bummed to see him go because I thought he was such a great fit for Big Blue and looked like the character as though he’d leaped out of a comic book, but we must remind ourselves that this is an enduring icon that’ll forever be recast.
Jumping aboard the pro-Henry Cavill bandwagon is that of former Smallville and Daredevil producer Steven S. DeKnight, who’s since taken to Twitter to say, “Regardless of the material, Henry Cavill was a great Superman,” before posting another Tweet changing “was” to “is,” hoping the smoke clears before long.
What’s also somewhat worth mentioning is that DeKnight gets into it with one fan that didn’t particularly care for Cavill’s time spent as Kal-El, so the drama lovers amongst you may want to check out those exchanges as well.
Getting back to the idea of “smoke clearing,” I think that if today’s news had no weight to it, Cavill himself would’ve issued some sort of a statement, but the studio is playing it coy and generally dancing around saying anything concrete for good reason. Perhaps Warner Bros. are trying to gauge how we’d all react before taking definitive action.
Going with my gut, I’m willing to say it’s more than likely that Cavill knows he can’t sit around forever waiting to star in another Superman movie that may never arrive, therefore he’s keeping himself occupied with other gigs such as The Witcher. Time will tell, of course, so all we can due is kick back and see how the situation plays out.