James Gunn clears up a "confusing" Superman conspiracy theory about Henry Cavill’s DCU re-casting

EntertainmentMoviesAction MoviesDC MoviesDCUJames Gunn clears up a “confusing” Superman conspiracy theory about Henry Cavill’s DCU re-castingWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

EntertainmentMoviesAction MoviesDC MoviesDCUJames Gunn clears up a “confusing” Superman conspiracy theory about Henry Cavill’s DCU re-castingWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Getty/Gilbert Flores / Contributor)

James Gunn

The Suicide Squadactor Nathan Fillion got some details mixed up in a recent interview and it led to a very weird conspiracy. Luckily,James Gunnhas now taken to Threads to firmly debunk a theory that he lied to fans about Henry Cavill’s return as Superman in the DCU. Confused? We are, too.

“We were actually at the premiere party after ‘Suicide Squad’ and he [James Gunn] was in a huge crowd of people. 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.'”

Here’s where things get hairy: The Suicide Squad was released in 2021. Gunn and Safran were appointed the new heads of DC Studios in 2022. Fans took Fillion’s quote to mean that Gunn had always intended to replace Henry Cavill as Superman, and that they were “lied to” about his supposed initial intention to keep Cavill on after theBlack Adam post-credits sceneand that,according to one fan, Gunn was “intending on always screwing over Cavill.”

However, as it turns out,Fillion misspoke and meant the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 premiere party, which took place in 2023, and Gunn always intended to pitch Superman as a brand new Superman story – regardless if he became head of DC Studios or not. The plan was always for a new Clark Kent to come on board, and has nothing to do with Gunn supposedly not wanting Cavill for the role.

“I don’t quite understand how that fits. 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,“Gunn wrote. “When I was hired to write Superman it was always intended as & pitched as a new Superman story, 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?”

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Superman is set to hit theaters on July 11, 2025. For more, check out our list of all theupcoming DC movies and showsyou need to know about.

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5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”

5

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