Henry Cavill Quits Superman Role, Exiting The DCEU

The DCEU as we know it is bending, but will it break? First, Ben Affleck appears to be done as Batman, and now THR reports Henry Cavill has exited his role as Superman, having played the Man of Steel in three movies.

So what caused all of this? Apparently, it was a long-rumored cameo in Shazam!, with Cavill balking due to scheduling conflicts. That said, this story about Cavill’s exit has been floating around for a while now, and there’s a possibility he is just doing this as some kind of power move. However, as the site notes, “the door is now closing on other potential appearances for the actor.”

Warner Bros. may have the leg up, though, because their focus is said to be shifting to the Supergirl movie that recently hired 22 Jump Street writer Oren Uziel to write a script about the teenage heroine’s origin story. That film will be completed long before any Man of Steel sequel, since one doesn’t appear to be in the works despite many assertions to the contrary.

This is a huge blow. Cavill and Affleck were once the cornerstones of the DCEU as Superman and Batman, but all of that seems to have changed with the emergence of Wonder Woman. Then again, as one source tells the site, “Superman is like James Bond, and after a certain run you have to look at new actors.”  Perhaps it won’t be long before we hear about a new Kryptonian on the block.