The newly-formed DC Studios has continued to cause pure chaos and make the DC Entertainment brand messier than ever—which is hard to do. But perhaps better days are on the horizon for the studio, as co-CEO James Gunn told Twitter this week that DC Studios has a new slate set, and he plans to unveil the first part of it in early 2023. With that announcement, though, came the news that Superman actor Henry Cavill will in fact not be returning to play the character in the future. Cavill announced his return in October with his post-credits scene cameo in Black Adam to much fanfare. Black Adam, for a few reasons now, has become a fairly awkward moment in DC’s history. It probably does not help that Dwayne Johnson’s team reportedly leaked the film’s profit report based on false assumptions to try and prove to the public that the movie was profitable.
Cavill Superman fans have much to mourn. To dream about what could have been, Walter Hamada’s original DCEU plan for the character was revealed. We also learned that the officially dead Man of Steel 2 would have placed Cavill against classic Superman foe Braniac. Now, fans will have to wait and see what Gunn’s new Superman script will look like.
With everything happening at DC Studios, it begs the questions of whether the four remaining DCEU films with scheduled releases will actually happen, or alternatively, matter. If The Flash does go forward, it apparently cut Cavill’s and Gal Gadot’s cameos in its most recent cut, which would suggest that DC’s flagship characters across the board will likely get recast in a hard reboot situation. In that reboot scenario, it is very unclear how films like Blue Beetle will play any role in the studio’s grand new plan, but you can read the first official synopsis of the film here. It could be all we get.
While DC is having a difficult time, Marvel—through Marvel Studios and Sony—is all business as usual. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania director Peyton Reed this week discussed how the film will be a major and important movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, rather than a palate cleanser like many perceive the first two Ant-Man films. He also discussed how crucial Bill Murray’s mysterious character is to the story. Of course, Quantumania will be our first significant foray into Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer. With him in mind, a wild new fan theory is circulating that fans have already watched the ending of Avengers: Secret Wars.
Many speculate that the Deadpool 3 film will feature Deadpool and Wolverine annihilating the Fox Marvel universe. If you read into a specific word director Shawn Levy used in an interview, it lends a lot of support to that theory. The previous Fox universe of course includes two iterations of the Fantastic Four. While fans eagerly away who the MCU’s Fab Four will be, it seemed confirmed this week that John Krasinski will not be playing the proper Reed Richards in the 2025 Fantastic Four film.
On the side, it was unfortunately confirmed that the Disney+ Hawkeye-spinoff Echo is delayed after murmurs about the show’s team not being satisfied at the end of production. Thor: Love and Thunder apparently cut Galactus from the film, and Elvis actor Austin Butler is personally gunning for a major MCU role, notably the Human Torch.
Lastly, Sony keeps getting weirder and bolder with their Spider-Man universe. Yet another obscure villain is getting the solo film treatment in line with Morbius, Venom, Kraven the Hunter, and El Muerto. However, Hypno-Hustler will be produced by and star none other than Donald Glover.
