Spider-Man No Way Home: Everything We Know So Far

The cancelation of Man of Steel 2 was controversial among the DC fan base. Henry Cavill starred as the new Superman for many years, but some fans took issue with the films he was in. Numerous moviegoers have expressed their disapproval of new DC Studios head James Gunn getting rid of the previous Superman, making the past decade of films essentially irrelevant. Despite Gunn’s actions causing this rage, the cancelation and Henry Cavill’s departure can ultimately be tied back to Zack Snyder.

Zack Snyder’s divisive Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice made the former DC Extended Universe something of a toxic property. Similarly, its haphazard production left even Zack Snyder’s Superman adrift. Due to this, Henry Cavill’s time was cut short long before James Gunn got on board, mostly due to how mishandled the whole universe was. In the end, Snyder’s 2013 Superman reboot sealed the fate of Cavill’s Kal-El nine years ahead of time.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on January 9, 2024: The DC Extended Universe — which began with Zack Snyder’s 2013 movie Man of Steel — has now come to a close. Ever since its inception, it was fairly controversial, namely due to how it handled heroes such as Superman. Fans warmed up to Henry Cavill’s take on the Last Son of Krypton despite this, but his planned return to the role sadly never came to be. With his brief return in Black Adam now over a year old and the DCEU gone, many fans are mourning the old continuity’s Superman as the new DC Universe is on the way.

Zack Snyder’s Version of Superman Clashed With Previous Depictions

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More than any other superhero, Superman is associated with hope, optimism and — in some unfortunate cases — a bit of outdated cheesiness. The latter issue definitely explains why Snyder made Man of Steel the way he did. His version went against the more Pollyanna depiction of Superman in previous films, a decision that felt necessary for the DCEU. The idea for a new Superman film was birthed by the success of The Dark Knight trilogy. Christopher Nolan had conceived the idea of a new Superman, but didn’t want to direct the film. Instead, Zack Snyder was chosen to helm it, having been impressed by his use of visuals and ability to “deconstruct mythology.” While this may have been Snyder’s strength elsewhere, it was a weakness concerning Superman as he built the so-called “Snyderverse.”

Zack Snyder viewed the idea of faultless superheroes with squeaky-clean reception as outdated, especially once he brought the superhero comic book deconstruction Watchmen to the big screen. Watchmen had a story in which superheroes are painfully fallible. Even the most powerful among them had lost his humanity and sense of connection to the world at large. Watchmen was a cynical story that ripped away superheroes’ innocence, and it has influenced generations of creators since then.

Related Christopher Nolan gives huge praise to Rebel Moon director and DCEU mainstay Zack Snyder over his divisive 2009 superhero film, The Watchmen.

Many have erroneously seen Snyder’s vision of superheroes (and the fruition of this idea in the Snyder Superman) as the only way to truly portray them in modern times. Snyder has previously gone on record stating that purer examples of superhero storytelling are incredibly hard to believe and that those who think these characters would “truly” act in such a manner should “wake up.” To be fair, someone so highly swayed by works such as Watchmen would logically view superheroes through this lens, seeing anything else as too cartoony and a “beautiful lie.” Given Snyder went on to handle Superman (the ultimate personification of overtly heroic ideals), it’s almost shocking Man of Steel and its maligned follow-up weren’t even more controversial.

The so-called DC Extended Universe was most certainly not planned beforehand, especially considering that Man of Steel was initially meant to be a reboot of the Superman film franchise. Further, Man of Steel was planned to be potentially set in the same continuity as The Dark Knight. There were never intentions on Snyder’s part to use the movie as DC’s equivalent to Marvel’s Iron Man (2008), and if that was WB’s plan from the get-go, it failed to secure a director whose vision would lay a successful path. Man of Steel and its sequel applied the rules of Watchmen to Superman, and to say it was an awkward combination is an understatement. The backlash to Snyder’s depiction of Superman was strong for Man of Steel, but the outright lambasting of Dawn of Justice and its reception as a box office disappointment meant that Snyder’s vision (and the Snyder Superman) ultimately had to go.

The Snyderverse Killed Henry Cavill’s Superman

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With the theatrical version of Justice League, Warner Bros. tried to course correct from the tone and reception of the Snyder movies. However, their efforts resulted in a disjoined failure of a film that blatantly tried to copy the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It didn’t help that Superman’s presence in the film was the butt of jokes due to the questionable CGI used for him at different points. Behind the scenes, development had been extremely hectic and rudderless, as projects were thrown at the wall with little rhyme or reason. Without a strong foundation of where to go forward with the films, it was impossible to slot a potential Man of Steel 2 into the mix.

This can all be tied back to the controversy over the Zack Snyder Superman and how the shared movie universe has been fighting a connection to this character ever since 2013. Such a haphazard foundation with the veritable king of superheroes set the tone for the DCEU. Given its mixed reception at best, it certainly set things up for failure. When David Zaslav became CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery and wanted to make Superman a cinematic priority again, it meant excising what many saw as a cancerous tumor from the hero. Sadly, said tumor took the form of Henry Cavill, who, for as much as he’s beloved by fans, was the face of the Snyderverse and the DCEU.

Even before Zaslav and James Gunn were on the scene, the lack of a concrete idea for a Man of Steel sequel stemmed from questions about where to go with the questionable Zack Snyder Superman. Thus, the Last Son of Krypton’s appearances at the end of Shazam! and the Peacemaker TV show had Superman making headless cameos, slowly making audiences aware that Cavill would be phased out of the role. Sadly, the actor who was perfect for the role, but was let down by Zack Snyder, whose lack of cohesion with the fundamentals of the character derailed Superman on the big screen for a good 10 years.

The Death of the DCEU Is the Dawn of the New DCU

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The DC Extended Universe came to a close with the late 2023 release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. This movie’s release came a decade after Man of Steel, making the anniversary a somewhat somber affair. Now, the focus of DC Studios will be the upcoming DC Universe, which reboots things from the previous shared universe. While some actors will reprise their roles (as seen in the upcoming second season of Peacemaker), canon as a whole will be wiped clean. That includes Zack Snyder Superman. Instead, David Corenswet will play the new Man of Steel in the upcoming reboot Superman: Legacy. The intention of this movie (directed by DC Studios head James Gunn) is to provide a more classic, wholesome take on Superman compared to the dour DC Extended Universe version.

This will fix a lot of the issues of the DCEU, but it sadly comes at the expense of Henry Cavill’s Superman. Many fans felt that the actor (who was a fan of the character) could have easily done the hero justice with better, more traditional material. Sadly, the general reception towards the Zack Snyder-helmed DCEU began all the way back with Man of Steel, and subsequent movies only solidified it. Starting off on such a contentious foot wasn’t the way to relaunch such a classic character, let alone start a shared movie universe. The result was that the DC Extended Universe had a decade-long lifespan that ticked down from the second that Cavill first flew into theaters, and it ultimately left several fans and moviegoers waiting for Superman.

An alien child is evacuated from his dying world and sent to Earth to live among humans. His peace is threatened when other survivors of his home planet invade Earth.