James Gunn shot down some rumors about casting Superman. This is why he has to wait a while before picking someone.
Superman is on everyone’s mind in the DC Universe. Ever since James Gunn fired Henry Cavill from the role and fans went crazy, we’ve all been wondering who the next Superman will be. Good rumors were circulating. Many fans have created excellent art by placing the heads of various actors on Superman’s body. But Gunn assures us that his plan for the DCU involves a bit of a wait before Superman is cast again. And this is probably for the best.
Gunn recently tweeted that despite his plans to announce some things in the near future, “Superman’s casting won’t be one of them.” The filmmaker-turned-studio manager is making a new DCU, and it looks like he’s doing it with the skills that made him a fine director. In his tweet, he stated that any casting for one of his films would happen after a script was at least close to completion. And it’s safe to say DC Studios is nowhere near that Man of steel 2, if it could still be called that.
While DC fans await James Gunn’s announcement of his fantastic plans for the universe with bated breath, we believe he shouldn’t rush to cast Superman or even plan another Superman movie.
Change is hard for fans
There was a lot of controversy when James Gunn and Peter Safran dropped Henry Cavill as Superman. Understandable, considering fans who had just gone to The Rock’s Black Adam just saw Cavill wearing the red cape at the end of the movie. There wasn’t really any doubt about it; Cavill returned and Gunn would recreate the DCU around the star.
But maybe Dwayne Johnson spoke too quickly about his plans for a showdown between Superman and Black Adam. Now DC’s future is uncertain, and we’re all a little confused by what story the upcoming movies might tell. Gunn assures the audience that his ten-year plan with Peter Safran is in the works and they will begin making announcements soon. But he has also said that Superman’s future will remain in the dark for now.
Fans are gone an insured Man of steel 2 movie in the works with Cavill all the way back to one Untitled Superman Project to be determined for some time in the next ten years. But it is the right decision, even if it makes people unhappy. Changing the DC Universe was never going to be easy. If Gunn and the other executives had let DC continue as they did in the past, fans would surely still be excited about upcoming movies, but once they premiered we would all have complained that DC wasn’t as good as Marvel just like we have done over the past decade. Now that Gunn is able to change things about DC, he needs to make his decisions carefully, and putting Superman on the back burner is a good idea.
Superman is the heart of DC
Gunn is going to write a story that will last ten years. If it’s going to be something like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s going to start with a single story and expand into something much bigger. When Disney went to Robert Downey Jr. came to ask him to play Tony Stark, they must have known they were going to build an entire franchise on him; that he doesn’t just have to be Tony Stark for the Iron Man movies, but also for every other movie in the Marvel Universe. Gunn will have to choose someone like this to hedge his bets. Superman is the main superhero all over DC, and he’s going to have to get that entire franchise out of a decade-long rut.
Once he’s laid out his plan, Gunn will have to write a spectacular movie. And the content of that movie will tell us more about who Superman will be than anything else Gunn could predict. The atmosphere and tone of the movie he uses to build the DCU will help shape the idea that will eventually become the red and blue suit that someone will have to put on.
Although it’s hard, fans need to be patient. Good movies take time and Gunn tries to create a whole universe of movies. DC is taking a bitter pill that will hopefully make it a better movie studio. Fans need to recognize what problems that can cause in the short term in order to reap the rewards later on. Superman is a core character who deserves to be done right. The decisions Gunn must make are tough and take a long time to come to fruition, but he makes the right choices as a responsible manager for DC. We won’t be seeing Superman for a long time, but when we do, it’ll be all the better.