For DC fans, the end of 2022 was a frenzy of changes since so many things happened so quickly. After spending well over a decade in production hell, “Black Adam” finally arrived in theaters, only — sort of crash and burn financially. Although Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson attempted to present a positive picture of those figures, it did little to change the fact of the matter. Due to DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran’s decision to go ahead with a new, younger Superman, their plan to significantly bring back Henry Cavill as Superman into the DC Universe didn’t survive very long.
Unfortunately, Warner Bros employed an ill-advised sales strategy that added salt to the wound for both “Black Adam” and Cavill’s Superman. A “Black Adam” and “Man of Steel” movie combo bundle is currently available through several digital stores, including Microsoft. Therefore, the beginning of the former DC Universe and the film that essentially put an end to it is being offered simultaneously. What’s worst? It first went on sale. The day after Gunn revealed he was creating a new “Superman” film without Cavill. Wow, that was some epically bad timing.
And being fair to the WB management, they weren’t forewarned that these two events would come together in this way. The on-sale date has undoubtedly been set in stone for some time, and the combo pack was presumably planned for quite some time. They had no means of anticipating Gunn’s announcement at the time he did. Just bad luck from the stars.
When Did It All Start?
There was a great deal of disturbance as Warner Bros merged into Warner Bros. Discovery. When the almost finished “Batgirl” movie was shelved in August, it foreshadowed significant change to come. A few months later, the shift became draconian when James Gunn and Peter Safran were appointed as the new co-executives of DC Films.
The two most difficult decisions that Gunn and Safran had to make were effectively kicking Dwayne Johnson and Henry Cavill to the curb by telling the former that he would no longer play Superman (despite having announced his comeback two months earlier) and by telling the latter that his ambitious plan for additional “Black Adam” films had been abandoned. Neither actor will portray those heroes anymore, but Johnson is hoping for a comeback.
Whatever the case, the late fall of 2022 was crazy, and the whole mess turned out to be one of the greatest entertainment news stories of the year. It appeared as though a total and complete reset of the DC Universe was in the works (Jason Momoa would even switch to a different character? ). Still, Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman 3” idea was shelved, and she’s no longer directing it. Gal Gadot’s future is still unknown.
Toby Emmerich, president of Warner Bros. movies, took the decision to replace Cavill and cast a different actor as Superman in 2018. Of course, that didn’t happen, and Cavill made a brief cameo in the “Black Adam post-credit “‘s scene, but it’s still a fascinating revelation. Cavill’s Superman and Wonder Woman won’t be part of Gunn and Safran’s three-year, interwoven vision for the cinematic universe. If we understand that detail correctly, it means that Superman and Wonder Woman will appear in at least 2026. However, since that information was provided as an afterthought, people shouldn’t focus on it.
Issues Prior to James Gunn Coming On Board
Because Man of Steel was initially intended to be a reboot of the Superman franchise, maybe in the same timeframe as The Dark Knight, the DC Extended Universe that materialized after 2013 was not planned. If such was WB’s initial objective, they could have hired a filmmaker whose vision would pave a successful route. Snyder never intended to utilize the film as DC’s equal to 2008’s Iron Man.
To say that the rules of the movie Watchmen were applied to Superman in Man of Steel and its sequel was an odd pairing is an understatement. Man of Steel received harsh criticism for Snyder’s portrayal of Superman, while Dawn of Justice received even more stinging criticism and was viewed as a box office failure, forcing Snyder to abandon his original plan.
Warner Bros. attempted a course correction with the theatrical release of Justice League from the tone and reception of the Snyder flicks, which resulted in a disjointed flop of a movie that shamelessly attempted to emulate the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Superman’s appearance in the film was the subject of jokes because of the dubious CGI done for him on various occasions, which didn’t help.
Development has been highly frantic and aimless behind the scenes, with ideas being developed and thrown up the wall without rhyme or purpose. It was hard to include a hypothetical Man of Steel 2 in the mix without a solid framework from which to move forward with the films.
What Could Have Been
We may debate the merits (or lack thereof) of the films starring Henry Cavill as Superman for years; specific online communities have been doing so since around 2016. However, it appeared that no one was rooting against Cavill in the position. It’s unfortunate how things turned out because the man seemed to have been destined to play Kal-El from the start. Given that, putting away the awkward appearance of it as a strategy for increasing digital sales would make for a rather compelling double feature.
Since its debut, “Man of Steel” has received mixed reviews. Zack Snyder’s incredibly polarizing movie showed the potential of Cavill’s portrayal of the role. However, the disastrous releases of “Batman v Superman” and “Justice League” ended his reign. However, Dwayne Johnson insisted, and Cavill was allowed to don the costume once more for a post-credits scene in “Black Adam” that set up much more to come. According to anecdotal evidence, the audience was very quiet throughout the movie, right up until Superman’s cameo.
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[…] he is writing a Superman story, giving Kal-El and crew a new perspective — notably, one without Henry Cavill. Because Cavill abruptly admitted that he wouldn’t be returning to the role after wearing the […]