For better or worse, James Gunn keeps using social media as a channel for connecting with hardcore DC Comics fans. Quite often, Gunn will log onto Twitter to address a specific type of backlash, correct inaccurate claims, or backtrack on past statements. On social media, Gunn appears to be honest and open with DC fans, sometimes even disclosing information that they may not have wanted to know. For instance, he was hired six months prior to pen his Superman film, Superman: Legacy. Or, to put it another way, long before Warner Bros. permitted Henry Cavill to shoot a video to announce to fans that he was taking on the role once again.
Gunn responded on Twitter to an Instagram story that mentioned the animated Creature Commandos and a Superman movie, two of his projects that are now in pre-production at WB. After some nudging from fans, he revealed through a tweet that he had been hired six months before to write a new Superman film. This led some DC fans to the following conclusion: Henry Cavill was used only to boost Box Office numbers for Black Adam and WBD had no interest in developing a sequel to Man of Steel with Cavill as Superman.
In addition, James Gunn made it clear that whatever Man of Steel 2 plans Warner Bros. may have had with Henry Cavill were never intended to overlap with the Superman movie he was writing. But he did point out that, before becoming the co-president of DC Studios (with Peter Safran), he had been hired to work on Superman.
Fans of Henry Cavill began to do the math and discover that this meant that WBD was aware that James Gunn was developing a new plan for the DC's superhero while still authorizing Cavill to make an announcement about his return to the role of Superman. This happened after he shot a brief cameo for Black Adam in a post-credit sequence. DC fans have every reason to be upset, especially those who adored Henry Cavill in the role and wished to see him return. As a result, they have swamped social media to express their frustration.
Then there are the fans who hold Dwayne Johnson and his Seven Bucks Productions equally accountable to Warner Bros. Some believe that The Rock and his crew tricked Henry Cavill into thinking he had a future at WB, even though it was probably already known that DC Films would take a different path and try to reboot the DC universe. Is it possible that The Rock gave Black Adam a lift by using Cavill? Or did he also think that WB would allow Black Adam to go on and prepare for the showdown with Superman in a later movie?
No matter how you look at it, the overall scenario is a complete and total disaster. Significant executives who most likely participated in these discussions are no longer employed by DC Films, making them susceptible to being blamed for the controversial choices made at the time. However, some executives would have been part of those discussions are still there and CEO David Zaslav still has the final say in all matters. Zaslav has made many controversial decisions, like canceling a Scooby Doo project featuring fan-favorites the Hex Girls, while releasing the animated series Velma, which has one of the worst ratings in history.
There is no escaping the fact that very terrible decisions were made during this process, making Henry Cavill look foolish. Without a doubt, Cavill will win, and he already has some exciting projects in the works. Many fans would have liked to see him in at least one more Superman film.
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