Should they recast Superman?

[Rorschach2012]

Cavill is the face of the DCEU. The DCEU hasn’t connected with audiences. And after 3 movies, Cavill hasn’t connected with audiences either. So my question is, should they keep Cavill or drop him?

 

[ernesth100]

No. The thing is Cavill failed at being the face. If anything Bats or Diana could be better faces.

But that's not to say he doesn't do a great job potraying Superman which is indeed true.

 

[The Batman]

Lol, Cavill stopped being the face of the DCEU as soon as they announced that Batman would be in his sequel.

 

[FunkMiller]

To show that the DCEU as it stands is gone? Probably, yes.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Lol, Cavill stopped being the face of the DCEU as soon as they announced that Batman would be in his sequel.

I'm sure Diana is the face of DCEU now. Not Booze Wayne.

 

[Silver Surfer]

Hard reboot with a brand new cast. Everyone must go, on and off screen.

 

[Boom]

If I'm a WB executive or shareholder, I absolutely recast him.

We can argue all day about who's at fault, but the damage is done. Cavill is the face of three films that underperformed at best and tanked at worst.

Even if you bring in an entirely new creative team for the next Superman movie with the goal of making it more heroic and uplifting, I think you're going to have a hard time selling the movie to general audiences with him front and center. He is forever associated with this toxic DCEU brand, and I simply don't trust that people would show up for him a fourth time. The quickest and more sure-fire way to convince audiences that the next Superman movie will be different is with a new face.

With the right material, I'm sure Andrew Garfield would have made a terrific Spider-Man in the MCU, but Disney and Sony both knew that he was going to have to be one of the casualties from TAS2 in order to sell the new MCU Spider-Man. I see a similar situation here.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

I think so. I was never impressed by him in the first place, but more importantly this version of Superman has a terrible reputation and I think he probably needs to go for the general audience to buy this as a fresh start.

I also think Affleck, Leto, and Eisenberg need to go. Gadot should stay. Momoa should stay until we see what the Aquaman solo does. The others probably won't be on screen anytime soon anyways. Unless they have to use him in order to keep the rights, Superman should be put on the shelf for awhile himself.

 

[LaughterLives]

I don't want them too but depending on who they'd get to replace him, I wouldn't be mad.

 

[THE WOLF]

No

 

[The Batman]

I'm sure Diana is the face of DCEU now. Not Booze Wayne.

Never said otherwise. It was pretty clear once Ben Affleck was cast as Bats, that Supes wasn't gonna be the face of the DCEU, but Gal ended up taking that position by surprise.

 

[InCali]

I think so. I was never impressed by him in the first place, but more importantly this version of Superman has a terrible reputation and I think he probably needs to go for the general audience to buy this as a fresh start.

I also think Affleck, Leto, and Eisenberg need to go. Gadot should stay. Momoa should stay until we see what the Aquaman solo does. The others probably won't be on screen anytime soon anyways. Unless they have to use him in order to keep the rights, Superman should be put on the shelf for awhile himself.

I mostly agree, but don't necessarily with regard to recasting Supes. I think Henry could do a really good job, but was hamstrung from the beginning. It would be a shame (but possibly necessary) to replace him for something that wasn't his fault.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I like Henry as an actor and I think he could have been the definitive Superman if he was working with the right people. But sadly, he’s associated with one highly divisive film and two that have nearly destroyed the brand. So sadly, they should probably recast the role just to distance themselves from this mess.

Really, the only one who is safe at this point is Gal. Momoa is too for the moment, but if Aquaman underwhelms and/or underperforms, my guess is, they’ll dump him and the character.

 

[InCali]

I like Henry as an actor and I think he could have been the definitive Superman if he was working with the right people. But sadly, he’s associated with one highly divisive film and two that have nearly destroyed the brand. So sadly, they should probably recast the role just to distance themselves from this mess.

Really, the only one who is safe at this point is Gal. Momoa is too for the moment, but if Aquaman underwhelms and/or underperforms, my guess is, they’ll dump him and the character.

I can't really disagree.

 

[Jochimus]

Recasting the character won't mean jack squat if his movies keep being made with the intent of trying to turn him into Kryptonian Batman. After 20-plus years and only this shipwreck to show for it, it's time for WB to give that white (or dark) whale up.

 

[B]

Unless they are going to give up on this iteration of the DCEU completely, clean house of everyone involved both on & off screen, then shelf all the characters that have been used in the current DCEU for 5 - 10 years. Unless they're going to do all of that, then no as recasting any of them is completely pointless. Not to mention I think the casting of at least the heroes in the DCEU has been one of the few bright spots.

I think they should scrub all current plans for DC team up movies for time being, so no Suicide Squad 2, Gotham City Sirens, Justice League 2 & even that Flashpoint movie they are destined to mess up. Focus on solo character movies for next 3 - 5 years keeping connections between them fairly small & loose, then if the audiences start responding more overwhelmingly positive rather than divisive to those, then start planning more big team up movies.

 

[Lantern Venom]

The last thing WB should do is recast anyone unless they have no choice, ala the Ben Affleck situation. Unlike the MCU, the DCEU isn't to everyone's taste. However, with WB's track record, it's highly likely that if they try to tinker too much or reboot, they could produce something like Fant4stic, which is to no one's taste.

 

[Captain Marvel]

Drop him. Rightly or wrongly, he's too connected with the Snyder version of Superman to separate him from that. More than that, though, Superman needs a hard reboot. They need to remove all the stuff that happened in those movies, from Pa Kent teaching young Clark to be a sociopath, to Superman killing Zod and making out with Lois over post-apocalyptic Metropolis, his death, Doomsday, the Eisenberg Luthor, half the world hating him, his depressing nature, the dark costume, etc. All of that needs to go. They need a clean break from all that, and they can't do that with Cavill continuing in the role.

 

[Captain Marvel]

Unlike the MCU, the DCEU isn't to everyone's taste.

No, it's not. The solution to that, though, isn't to double down on the things which give the general audience a bitter taste. The solution is to get rid of those things entirely. And Henry Cavill has played a Superman in three movies which the general audience just never connected with. They're not going to suddenly connect with him in a 4th, 5th, or 6th film.

 

[Lantern Venom]

No, it's not. The solution to that, though, isn't to double down on the things which give the general audience a bitter taste. The solution is to get rid of those things entirely. And Henry Cavill has played a Superman in three movies which the general audience just never connected with. They're not going to suddenly connect with him in a 4th, 5th, or 6th film.

Some of that audience, not all. WB already started over with Superman once, and did better at the BO with MoS over Superman Returns. Recasting their staples at this point is playing with fire.

 

[Captain Marvel]

Some of that audience, not all. WB already started over with Superman once, and did better at the BO with MoS over Superman Returns. Recasting their staples at this point is playing with fire.

It worked... until they met the new Superman. You're missing the salient point there.

They recast.

And it worked (at least temporarily).

And sure, the ENTIRE audience doesn't dislike this iteration of Superman, but given the box office totals, is there any question at this point that the current iteration of Superman is a failure? Let's not forget that Man of Steel itself underperformed. So much so that they decided to forego Man of Steel 2 to do Batman V Superman instead. So the Cavill version of Superman was already a failure right out of the gate, and has only declined in interest with every subsequent movie. Comparing positively to the Routh Superman is basically damning with faint praise, given that Superman Returns set the bar so low that it wasn't hard at all to overleap that.

We also have another comparison to look at: Spider-Man. Rebooted for the THIRD time, Spider-Man: Homecoming was the second highest grossing Spider-Man movie of all time. It'd be the highest grossing Spider-Man movie of all time, ahead of Spider-Man 3, if it'd just made $10 million more. Rebooting Spider-Man yet again didn't kill the franchise. It instead breathed new life into it. And the Raimi Spider-Man movies are a far bigger deal in the minds of the general audience than Superman Returns ever was. If Spider-Man can do it despite having greater reboot baggage to deal with, than Superman can most definitely do it.

Moreover, what do they have to lose? Are you afraid that, what, they'll make a $300 million movie with Superman and it'll flop at the box office? Too late. It already happened. There's nowhere they can go with Cavill as Superman except down, while a fresh take on Superman with a new actor can only be an improvement at this point. Cavill had three times at bat as Superman, and it was a dud each time. It's time to put him out to pasture.

 

[Osiris-Rex]

Recasting the character won't mean jack squat if his movies keep being made with the intent of trying to turn him into Kryptonian Batman. After 20-plus years and only this shipwreck to show for it, it's time for WB to give that white (or dark) whale up.

I don't know if you have seen Justice League or not but "Batman" Superman died at the end of Batman v Superman. The reborn Superman is now sort of a clone of
the Superman that was on the TV show Supergirl. Smiles, laughs, crack jokes, is a team player.

 

[Lantern Venom]

It worked... until they met the new Superman. You're missing the salient point there.

They recast.

And it worked (at least temporarily).

And sure, the ENTIRE audience doesn't dislike this iteration of Superman, but given the box office totals, is there any question at this point that the current iteration of Superman is a failure? Let's not forget that Man of Steel itself underperformed. .

No, he's not a failure at all, just a victim of the Marvel bar of expectation. MoS made a much bigger profit than SR, as did BvS. Neither was the Avengers hit that WB wants, and they'll likely never get that. However, taking away the versions of characters that are making money, even if it isn't the type of hauls that WB wants, is a risky prospect. It's better to adjust expectations than try to soup up an older vehicle and possibly blow the engine. That's what recasting Cav-El would do.

 

[Asr]

Unlike the MCU, the DCEU isn't to everyone's taste.

Speak for yourself there. I haven't especially liked most of the MCU movies because they're bland and they all sort of merge into each other. I vastly prefer the DCEU to the MCU mostly because it does something different, looks vastly different (in terms of the cinematography), and doesn't pander to kids as much. But if the MCU movies started going in the direction of movies like the X-Men franchise at FOX, which feels more "adult" for lack of a better word, then I might start liking them more.

There's nowhere they can go with Cavill as Superman except down, while a fresh take on Superman with a new actor can only be an improvement at this point. Cavill had three times at bat as Superman, and it was a dud each time. It's time to put him out to pasture.

Cavill's been a dud as Superman through no fault of his own. With the right director and creative team, he could be a great Superman.

That said, if WB does end up booting him, I'll understand why, but it'll also be unfortunate when Cavill never really had his chance because of Snyder. And I'm not exactly optimistic that there's another unknown actor, possibly younger than Cavill, who could do the role justice. Tyler Hoechlin on the CW, for example, is great for CK but not as good as he is for Supes.

 

[Lantern Venom]

Speak for yourself there. I haven't especially liked most of the MCU movies because they're bland and they all sort of merge into each other. I vastly prefer the DCEU to the MCU mostly because it does something different, looks vastly different (in terms of the cinematography), and doesn't pander to kids as much.

I only mean that Marvel's films have a broader appeal, which is undeniable when considering both profits and critical reception. I can state that and still be a fan of every DCEU film, which I am.