James Gunn clears up a “confusing” Superman conspiracy theory about Henry Cavill’s DCU re-casting

The Suicide Squad actor Nathan Fillion got some details mixed up in a recent interview and it led to a very weird conspiracy. Luckily, James Gunn has now taken to Threads to firmly debunk a theory that he lied to fans about Henry Cavill's return as Superman in the DCU. Confused? We are, too.

Let's back up. It was announced in July 2023 that Fillion would play Guy Gardner aka The Green Lantern in Gunn and Peter Safran's newly established DCU, with his first appearance set for Superman (formerly Superman: Legacy). Written and directed by Gunn, the film follows a younger Superman (played by David Corenswet) and sees him embark on a different, less Snyder-y adventure. Fillion recently shared how he found out about his casting, telling Collider:

"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.'"

Here's where things get hairy: The Suicide Squad was released in 2021. Gunn and Safran were appointed the new heads of DC Studios in 2022. Fans took Fillion's quote to mean that Gunn had always intended to replace Henry Cavill as Superman, and that they were "lied to" about his supposed initial intention to keep Cavill on after the Black Adam post-credits scene and that, according to one fan, Gunn was "intending on always screwing over Cavill."

However, as it turns out, Fillion misspoke and meant the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 premiere party, which took place in 2023, and Gunn always intended to pitch Superman as a brand new Superman story – regardless if he became head of DC Studios or not. The plan was always for a new Clark Kent to come on board, and has nothing to do with Gunn supposedly not wanting Cavill for the role.

"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," Gunn wrote. "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?"

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ based in New York City. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.