Poor Henry Cavill just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to his career-defining role as Superman. Despite headlining the movie that served as the launchpad for the entire DCEU, not only does a sequel to Man of Steel look increasingly unlikely, but Cavill’s Kal-El has since been reduced to a background player in the franchise, taking on a supporting role in Batman V Superman before seeing his screentime in Justice League downgraded to an extended cameo and an infamous mustache.
Not only that, but the brief glimpse of Superman at the end of Shazam! was filled by a stunt double, while there’s also been constant speculation that Warner Bros. are looking to replace him as the Big Blue Boy Scout and reboot the character once again, despite the actor’s insistence that he’s still part of the DCEU.
However, we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones that told us the Guardians of the Galaxy were set to cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder and a Green Lantern show is coming to HBO Max, both of which have since been confirmed – that the studio are going to erase Man of Steel and by extension, its events, from the existing continuity of the DCEU. This doesn’t mean that the actor won’t ever play the role again, just that the aforementioned movie and the stuff that happened in it will no longer be considered part of the continuity and if Cavill were to return, they’d just start fresh with him.
As for what would happen with BvS and Justice League, we’re told that those films are also being wiped from continuity – for the most part – as according to our intel, the Flash‘s long-gestating solo film is still set to adapt Flashpoint and will significantly change or alter many events of the franchise that we’ve already seen play out on the big screen. WB are reportedly seeing this as the ideal opportunity to pretend like Man of Steel never happened and also reverse a lot of the other things that have so far taken place in the DCEU, like the death of Black Mask.
Of course, we’ll have to wait and see how Andy Muschietti’s take on The Flash pans out and how heavily it alters the timeline, but it would be a real shame if Henry Cavill and his take on Superman were so unceremoniously ejected from the DCEU. But clearly, the studio’s heading in an entirely new direction with things now and it seems like they’re making every effort they can to steer away from the Snyder era, and that includes rebooting and erasing a lot of what we saw in the franchise’s early days.