Warner Bros. and Discovery have merged in a $43 billion deal, bringing every story, character, and production from the DC catalog into a new fold at Discovery. With this merger, Discovery now wants to refocus on DC’s most viable yet neglected property, Superman. According to Variety (via ScreenRant), Discovery is looking forward to changing the near-forgotten status of the character in DC’s live-action films.
The new studio management structure is probably willing to properly utilize Superman, who is definitely an audience attraction, and turn it into a profit. The reports suggest that the studio believes that in the DC Extended Universe, several “top-shelf characters like Superman have been left to languish,” thus explaining the studio’s newfound interest in the character.
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Earlier, Warner Bros. rebooted Superman with Man of Steel, bringing Zack Snyder on board as the visionary to supervise and plan a franchise of live-action films based on characters from DC Comics. Snyder introduced the world to Henry Cavill as the new Superman. The film was a commercial success and opened to divisive critical reception. But the audience’s positive response was enough for Warner Bros. to greenlit plans for Snyder’s sequel to it. Instead of a direct sequel, Snyder made Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, starring Ben Affleck as Batman and Cavill reprising his role from the first film. With the film, Snyder announced the slate of next releases in his planned DCEU for the next few years, but negative reception toward Batman v. Superman led Warner Bros. to rethink Snyder’s plans, leading Man of Steel 2 into long production hell.
Now that there’s a new merger, Superman might see the anticipated film fans have always been hoping for. There’s no concrete evidence to confirm Discovery’s said decision, and nor can one confirm whether Discovery will bring back Cavill or recast the role, but the new owners in charge may soon bring DC’s top pop-culture icon back on-screen.
Superman’s Plan Constantly Changes in the DCEU
Warner Bros. Pictures
Since then, plans concerning Superman within the DCEU have constantly changed. The critical and commercial failure of Justice League led DC Films and Warner Bros. once again to rethink their plans for the franchise’s future and ever since, Cavill has been out of the costume for way too long. He did return for reshoots during the production of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, but since that event has been called a cul-de-sac, Superman technically didn’t have a continuation with that movie in the franchise. Besides these appearances, all Superman’s got are two cameos, one in Shazam! and the other one in Peacemaker, both of which didn’t show Cavill’s face.
Warner Bros. has, on occasions, announced new plans in gear for Superman in live-action. There were talks of a movie featuring a Black Superman helmed by J.J. Abrams, as well as a Val-Zod series from Michael B. Jordan. While these rumors gained traction, Andy Muschietti cast Sasha Calle as Supergirl in his upcoming film The Flash. The film, which will deal with the idea of the multiverse, and is said to rewrite the DCEU, may probably put Supergirl as the prime Kryptonian in the picture within DCEU.
Superman is the most crucial figure in the DC Comics catalog. The character has seen several transitions throughout. While Christopher Reeve was the first famous iteration of the character, his franchise was rebooted with Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, wherein Brandon Routh portrayed the role. It was after this when Snyder’s version got greenlit with Cavill in the lead role.
Ever since Cavill’s last appearance as Superman, he has claimed he is still up for reprisal and is waiting for the call. There have been references to his character’s presence in the DCEU multiverse, and a constant progression of stories suggests that Superman remains in that unified multiverse. There’s no telling how Superman’s future will shape out with Discovery, but it’s a thrill to know that the character will be set up on priority, which may soon turn into a live-action film centered on him.
