James Gunn started writing 2025's Superman: Legacy months before Henry Cavill returned as the Man of Steel in Black Adam. Cavill's last appearance as Superman in theaters had been the ill-received 2017 Justice League before the actor returned to the role last October in a cameo alongside The Rock in Black Adam. Initially, Cavill celebrated the occasion, only for it to be revealed two months later that he would not continue in the role. Gunn is rebooting Superman for the DC Universe, but it appears the movie was in development before Cavill even returned.Gunn revealed on Twitter that he was hired by DC to write Superman: Legacy over six months ago.
Cavill's Superman exit from the DCU was confirmed in December, two months after his return in Black Adam arrived at theaters that October. Gunn's timeframe puts the new DC Studios co-CEO's hiring to write Superman: Legacy before August, meaning that the old DC management intended to have both a Cavill-led franchise and a rebooted Clark Kent running at the same time — and the confusing Superman situation does not stop there.
DC’s Superman Situation Was Even More Confusing Than Imagined
Gunn's reveal is interesting, as he and Peter Safran were only confirmed as the new heads of DC Studios at the end of October, making the original Superman plan of the old DCEU very hard to understand. There have been multiple reported Superman projects, including the cameo plan for Cavill's Superman that would begin with Black Adam and was then dropped altogether in favor of Superman: Legacy being the only canon version of the hero in the new DC Universe.
Before Gunn revealed that Cavill would not be playing the DCU Superman, it was reported that Man of Steel 2 was in the works, with DC even starting to look for writers to join the movie. If Cavill did continue in the role, it would have made little sense to have two cinematic franchises focused on Clark Kent going at the same time, especially since the way Cavill's Superman has been written in the past was fairly divisive. Cavill wasn't fired by Gunn from Superman, but the director understood that DC needed a change and did not sign a new contract with the star.
In the end, the idea of rebooting the character and allowing Superman: Legacy to present the main DC Universe Clark Kent was the best one, as it allows the new DCU to start with a younger Superman who is free of the baggage associated with Cavill's time in the role. The new Superman will also share the spotlight with Tyler Hoechlin's charming Clark Kent from the Superman & Lois series, as well as the in-development black Superman movie at DC, but all eyes are now on who will be the lead of Gunn's DC Universe movie Superman: Legacy.
Source: James Gunn/Twitter
