When James Gunn rebooted DC, he chose to move on from Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot. This decision backfired, costing Gunn his biggest DCU advantage.
Gunn and Peter Safran became co-chairs and co-CEOs of the new DC Studios in October 2022. The initial plan was to fix the previous regime’s DCEU, which meant Gunn wanted a reboot. In doing so, he decided to move on from the DCEU’s biggest stars.
One of those was Henry Cavill, who had portrayed Superman since 2013’s Man of Steel. In October 2022, Cavill surprisingly appeared as Superman in a cameo role in Black Adam. By the end of the year, Gunn announced his new Superman movie and decided it would not star Cavill, ending the actor’s tenure in DC.
As for Gadot, her exit as Wonder Woman was not as ceremonious as Cavill’s departure. In August 2023, Gadot said Wonder Woman 3 was in development, with Patty Jenkins set to return as the director. However, it was later reported that no actors from Zack Snyder’s DCEU films would reprise their roles in Gunn’s DC.
To this day, Gadot’s exit is still a topic of conversation. She recently slammed DC brass for how they handled Cavill and Jenkins’ departures.
“The Henry situation was not handled elegantly, to say the least. Same with Patty. [It] was not handled elegantly,” Gadot said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “I feel like we’re all adults, and it’s all good.”
Gunn had every right to reboot the DCU. How he handled it is where he can be criticized.
Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot gave DC star power and fan recognition
Building franchises from the ground up is tough sledding in 2026. It’s not 2010 anymore, when Marvel could cast unknowns and trust the filmmaking to help build A-list talent. Movie stars are one of the biggest factors in driving audiences to theaters. For the most part, people want to see recognizable faces in starry roles.
Gunn should have known it when rebooting DC. Again, no one faults Gunn for wanting to start fresh. The DCEU was failing and needed new direction. In hindsight, having Cavill and Gadot as pillars of the DC Universe would have increased visibility and recognition.
The problem with Cavill and Gadot was more about the movies, not the performances. Besides Wonder Woman, Cavill and Gadot’s movies received mixed to poor reviews. If they starred in critically acclaimed movies, DC would have never rebooted.
While it wasn’t handled properly, there is an argument for Cavill’s departure, especially because Gunn would be working on Superman himself. Letting Gadot walk instead of making Wonder Woman 3 is the more egregious action. Gunn had a female star in Gadot who deserved a third movie after Wonder Woman 1984 faltered during the Covid era. Instead, he bet on Supergirl, and it failed miserably.
Gunn can certainly bring success to DC. It’s going to be a lot harder without Cavill and Gadot.
