Superman hasn’t been a part of the Justice League promotions, though Henry Cavill did recently take part in the Chinese marketing for the film. It’s possible as we get closer to the release of Justice League (about two weeks away) that the Man of Steel may become front and center, or better yet, maybe they will keep Superman on the backburner to make Big Blue’s return all the better.
Henry Cavill launched the DCEU as we know it back in 2013 with Man of Steel, which was followed up by last year’s Batman vs. Superman. ln an interview with The Rake, Henry Cavill talks about the DCEU where he admits the previous DC movies didn’t exactly work.
Even if Marvel didn’t exist, we’d struggle. There was a style they [DC] were going for, an attempt to be different and look at things from a slightly different perspective, which hasn’t necessarily worked. Yes, it has made money but it has not been a critical success; it hasn’t given everyone that sensation which superheroes should give the viewer.
What did work for the DCEU was the new Wonder Woman movie starring Gal Gadot. Ironically, some have compared the Wonder Woman movie to the Richard Donner Superman films–of which Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins happens to be a big fan of. Henry Cavill is a big fan of Wonder Woman’s, too.
I think it is a wonderful time for the female hero. It is the perfect setting in social politics right now, we need it, we want that perspective, and Wonder Woman has struck at the ideal time and has become a phenomenal success, which is fantastic. Any success within the superhero universe, especially within the DC Universe, is wonderful, because I want to keep telling the Superman story; selfishly, that works for me.
Henry Cavill continues with mention that things are changing for the DCEU, which is reflective by Wonder Woman.
I feel like now the right mistakes have been made and they haven’t been pandered [to], and we can start telling the stories in the way they need to be told. It is even better to come back from a mistake or stylistic error into the correct vein because it will make it seem that much stronger. Wonder Woman was the first step in the right direction.
As Henry Cavill notes, he wants to keep telling additional Superman stories. Currently in the works are more Justice League films, which will most certainly feature Superman, and Man of Steel 2 is said to be in development, with Henry Cavill also possibly set to appear in the upcoming Shazam movie or even Dwayne Johnson’s solo Black Adam film.
Regarding Henry Cavill returning as Superman in Justice League, there are currently all sorts of rumors and speculation. Some fans think Superman might even return as a bad guy sporting a black costume, which Justice League composer Danny Elfman may have even hinted at when he spoke about using the classic John Williams Superman score for Justice League.
Justice League has a November 17, 2017 release directed by Zack Snyder, with the story by Chris Terrio and Zack Snyder, the screenplay by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon, and stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon and Willem Dafoe an Atlantean, Nuidis Vulko.
Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.