James Gunn isn’t afraid of tackling a lot of things said about him and his projects online, and that’s exactly what he’s done with this new conspiracy theory that claims that the filmmaker/producer/new co-CEO of DC Studios already knew about Henry Cavill’s re-casting as Superman while he was promoting The Suicide Squad’s release in cinemas.
Honestly, when I heard this conspiracy theory, I thought it was completely bogus. The idea that Gunn knew that Cavill wouldn’t be playing Superman anymore while promoting the release of his new The Suicide Squad movie is kind of insane. He was very much focusing on his DC movie, and at that time, he didn’t know he was going to be leading DC Studios.
He is now the co-CEO of the studio, but back then, he was making The Suicide Squad for DC and Warner Bros. Pictures, and he had just been re-hired as the director of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3. He had been fired from the movie previously after some of his old tweets had resurfaced online. However, Marvel Studios always knew that Gunn was the only person who could make that movie, and they ended up coming back to him after all the heat on him had died down.
Did James Gunn know about Henry Cavill’s Superman re-casting?
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
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So, how did this conspiracy theory start online? Well, it’s kind of Nathan Fillion’s fault. During an interview, Fillion revealed that Gunn had told him that he was going to be playing Guy Gardner, aka Green Lantern, in the DC Universe. Here’s what Fillion had to say on the matter:
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.’
So, this quote sparked a whole tidal wave on social media—X especially—in which supposed DC movie fans claimed that Gunn already knew that Superman was going to be re-cast, meaning that Henry Cavill had lost the role. However, Gunn revealed that Fillion got mixed up in their conversation about Guy Gardner.
Nathan Fillion’s memory was a bit off here…
Credit: ABC
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Gunn said that the conversation between him and Fillion actually took place at the party for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 last year, which was well after Gunn took the reins of DC Studios with his other co-CEO, Peter Safran. Gunn made this clarification on Threads. One of his followers informed Gunn that “a popular conspiracy theory” suggests “you were always planning on rebooting DC and making your own Superman movie when you first got hired by Warner Bros.”
Here’s what Gunn had to say on the matter (via Threads):
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, 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?
So, what do you make of this news? Are you looking forward to seeing what James Gunn does with the DC Universe? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this report.
James Gunn’s next movie is Superman, which should be released in cinemas on the 11th of July, 2025.
