"Henry Cavill Out As Superman Amid Warner Bros. DC Universe Shake-Up"

David_D

As reported in The Hollywood Reporter

Their lede-

Talks broke down for a cameo in 'Shazam!' due to scheduling conflicts, and the door is now closing on other potential appearances for the actor.
The DC cinematic universe appears to be losing its Man of Steel.

Henry Cavill, who has played Superman in three films, is parting ways with Warner Bros., sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Though neither side is confirming, the British actor, who first donned the blue suit for 2013's Man of Steel, and then starred in 2016's Batman v. Superman and last year's Justice League, is said to be hanging up the red cape.

DAR

I'm sure there might be some disagreement. But I did like Cavill and would have hoped he would have been given another opportunity to play the role.

mphil

I liked Cavill as well DAR. This is surprising to me. I suppose it must be a money thing. Cavill probably wants to get paid like a star of a successful franchise but his DC films haven't been too successful thus far...

Vertighost

I like Cavill as an actor as well although for me I'm kind of fine with this happening. I never liked Snyder and Nolan's version of Superman (a cold and aloof god who helps but always feels set apart). Since Warner Bros clearly doesn't seem to know what to do with the character (and Lord knows it's a difficult character to make work these days), it's probably for the best.

I also read that they want to focus on making a Supergirl film which is certainly not something I was expecting. I liked the first 2 seasons of the tv show quite a bit so I don't know what they're going to bring to a film version that I'm going to like. (I also have little interest in seeing a Flash film with Ezra Miller when the tv show has already done such a good job.)

RedRight88

It appears that there are also some reports (including his agent & one really vague Instagram post) that he isn't leaving.

David_D

Some more detail in reporting from Variety yesterday.

The article is actually about the Flash movie being moved back, they say due to schedule conflicts for Miller. But that article also included this, which is not surprising at this point, but it being talked of as some of the first (?) official confirmation that Affleck and Cavill are done:

Following the box office disappointment of “Justice League,” Warner Bros. has been reevaluating its approach to making movies based on DC Comics characters. The studio is not moving forward with Batman and Superman movies featuring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill, respectively. It is expected to recast the Dark Knight with a different actor.

Vertighost

It's too bad that the DC films were such a mess. While I know that DC doesn't have the same control over its films the way Marvel does, there's no reason they can't have the right point man involved in all of them. Snyder was always around and IMO the biggest mistake was having Snyder - and Nolan - building the foundations in that grim and more realistic style of Nolan's Batman films. They should hire Joss Whedon who's clearly capable of catering to the palate of both geeks and non-geeks, as well as navigating whatever Hollywood nonsense that would put off a lot of creative writers who could make far more money in Hollywood.

mphil

They should have just looked at Snyder's Rotten Tomatoes scores. I'm worried that they are thinking that Superman can't be a popular character in films. Nope, he just can't overcome bad filmmaking.

luckymustard

Is this where we also want to talk about the possible Superman TV series?

Mihawk

Seems like he's in talks to comeback? I hope he does. I think he's a good Superman, he has the look and he's actually a good actor, he just hasn't had that much good material to work with.

There's a reason why he's powered by the sun and wears hope on his chest. He's the light, Batman is the dark, it's how it works.