WB Reportedly Needs To Move Quick If They Want To Keep Henry Cavill

Henry Cavill hasn’t suited up as Superman for almost four years since filming his final mustachioed scenes as part of Justice League‘s extensive reshoots in the summer of 2017, and Warner Bros. are now in the process of rebooting the Big Blue Boy Scout with J.J. Abrams producing and Ta-Nehisi Coates writing the script, but the DCEU’s canonical Kryptonian has never strayed far from the headlines in the interim.

The latest comes from tipster Mikey Sutton, who reports that his sources tell him that WB might have to move quickly should they have any plans in store for the actor given his continued commitments to Netflix as part of the intended Enola Holmes franchise and however many seasons of The Witcher we end up getting.

“Warner Bros. needs to act soon if they want to keep him,” writes Sutton. “Marvel Studios is keeping an eye on him, too.”

Of course, when you look at the facts, the term ‘move quickly’ is a bit of a misnomer. Cavill was first announced as the new big screen Superman in January 2011, and in the ten years since he’s made precisely three appearances under the costume. He headlined Man of Steel, took second billing behind Ben Affleck in Batman v Superman and only factored into both versions of Justice League during their respective third acts, so it’s not as if the studio have been desperate to utilize him as much as possible.

There’s never been any vested interest in a direct Man of Steel sequel, either, and there were even reports making the rounds that said he’d been let go as Superman before his contract was eventually extended last year, although a second solo outing wasn’t said to be part of the deal. In any case, it would be very typical for WB’s approach to the DCEU if they had Henry Cavill in their employ for a decade and only decided to make the best use of him when it was too late.