Warner Bros. Reportedly Wanted to Replace Henry Cavill's Superman Since 2017

Henry Cavill debuted as Superman in 2013's Man of Steel. Following his debut, he reprised the role in two major DCEU films; Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. Sadly, 2017's Justice League had a disappointing run at the global box office with 657.9 million, enormously lower than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's 872.7 million box office receipt.

With the DC Universe suffering from subsequent flops, rumors swirled that the studio is trying to reinvent its strategy that might jeopardize the whole franchise, including Cavill's Superman future.

Henry Cavill was last seen as the caped superhero in Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League, which premiered on HBO Max in 2021. Following that, he took a long hiatus from the franchise and Warner Bros. had to use stand-ins for Superman cameos in 2018's Shazam! and 2021's Peacemaker.

While Cavill's Superman future remains a mystery, a new report suggests that Warner Bros. wanted to replace him as early as four years ago, exactly after the discouraging theatrical release of Justice League.

According to a report from Rolling Stone, following the sore fan reception to big-budgeted DC films and the box office disappointments, Warner Bros. considered rebooting the franchise by continuing Zack Synder's darker approach to DCEU films, including discussions about replacing Ben Affleck's Batman and Henry Cavill's Superman, two of the major anchors of the DCEU.

Now that there's a new caped crusader with Matt Reeves' triumphant box office film The Batman, where he introduced Robert Pattinson as the new Bruce Wayne, there is still no update about Henry Cavill's Superman replacement.

What's a DC Universe without a Superman? If ever Warner Bros. plans to move forward without Superman taking the lead, that seems to be an extremely bold choice. Despite Justice League's saddening box office receipt, Cavill's interpretation of the caped hero was undoubtedly compelling, and no one would argue that the actor was born to play the character.

While Cavill's DC future remains undisclosed at this point, fans still want to see the actor return as the Kryptonian superhero. For now, Warner Bros. hasn't yet announced a definitive decision regarding Cavill's future as Superman.

Also read: DC Fans Relaunch Massive #RestoreTheSnyderVerse Movement Ahead of SDCC