James Gunn is setting the record straight about the rumors around his role in Henry Cavill recasting in the Superman franchise after the recent DC shake-up. It was also alleged that Gunn already knew about Cavill‘s re-casting while he was promoting ‘The Suicide Squad’. The conspiracy theory goes back to when Cavill’s brief return in ‘Black Adam‘ as Superman came as a hope for his fans.
However, it was short-lived as Warner Bros. and DC Studios announced Gunn and Safran as the latter company’s new bosses just a month later, and Cavill was no longer Superman. This was a huge blow for Cavill as he had already given up his pivotal role in ‘The Witcher‘ presuming that he would have a busy schedule with his DC role. Fans were enraged, and the ground for speculation was rife. However, Gunn has now set the record straight with many fingers pointing at him.
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James Gunn Speaks Up Against Conspiracy Theories Against Him
James Gunn was responding to a question from a fan on Threads when he addressed a couple of rumors about the whole Henry Cavill’s Superman recasting fiasco. Gunn pointed out that he wasn’t heading the DC Studios until December 2022, so the accusations about orchestrating Henry Cavill’s Superman exit during the promotion of ‘The Suicide Squad‘ in 2021 hold no rationale.
When a fan asked him about a popular cospiracy theory suggesting that Gunn always wanted to reboot DC and make his own Superman movie after getting hired by Warner Bros, the director asserted that the narrative just doesn’t fly.
“I don’t quite understand how that fits,” Gunn responded on Threads. “Aside from the fact I had no interest in running DC until Peter decided to do it with me so he could do the exec stuff & I could focus on creative, when I was hired to write Superman it was always intended as & pitched as a new Superman story,” he added.
“So why would I lie about not planning that at the Squad premiere which would have amounted to the same thing at the end of the day? How does this particular conspiracy theory make sense?” he asked.
Gunn also addressed the outrage over an old snippet wherein actor Nathan Fillion was detailing a conversation with Gunn about a new Superman. This video had taken over social media and made the fans even more sure of Gunn being the culprit behind Cavill’s exit. In the video, Fillion said, “We were actually at the premiere party after ‘Suicide Squad’ and he [James Gunn] was in a huge crowd of people,” referring to Gunn.
“We saw each other in the crowd, and I congratulated him, ‘Oh, my God, that was amazing. It’s so great.’ He goes, ‘Hey, did Peter [Safran] tell you what we’ve got for you next?’ I said, ‘No, he hasn’t said.’ He looked around like someone was gonna be listening. We were in a throng of people, but he leaned over and said, ‘You’re gonna be Guy Gardner,'” Fillion said.
However, Gunn revealed that though Fillion’s story was true, his timeline was faulty. The conversation had happened long after Gunn took over the DC helm, during a party for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘ last year, and not during a ‘Suicide Squad‘ party as Fillion had claimed.
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Henry Cavill Faced A Major Career Blow After James Gunn Took Over DC
Amidst the change of bosses at the DC and Warner Bros. the man who paid the highest price is Henry Cavill. Though renowned and highly acclaimed for his role as Superman, the actor has faced some severe blows after he decided to give up his pivotal role in ‘The Witcher‘ based on the assumption that his Superman would continue to make more films and he would have a lot on his plate.
Cavill made a brief return to ‘Black Adam‘ in an impressive comeback. However, Gunn and Peter Safran’s appointment as the new DC overlords led to a casting shake-up. Cavill was left grounded as he was replaced by David Corenswet.
‘The Witcher‘ also faced a major blow after Cavill left and was replaced by Liam Hemsworth. After some heavy backlash over Cavill’s exit, the show creators decided to end the show with season 5. Both Season 4 and 5 are currently under production.
Meanwhile, Corenswet is set to don the iconic Superman costume in Gunn’s upcoming Superman film, set for a release on July 11, 2025.
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