We might soon be seeing a lot more Superman in more ways than one. On Wednesday, Deadline reported that Henry Cavill is in talks to don the cape at least one more time for an unspecified DC Extended Universe project. The outlet’s unnamed sources say he won’t be coming back in a standalone film, but otherwise, all bets are off.
According to the publication, possible candidates for Superman cameos are Shazam 2, Black Adam, and Aquaman 2, while Wonder Woman 1984 and Suicide Squad have wrapped production too soon for this, and an appearance in Matt Reeves’ The Batman “isn’t expected.” Meanwhile, there’s no Man of Steel sequel in the works. But could Cavill’s rumored return be connected to the recently announced “Snyder Cut” that will arrive on HBO Max next year?
In case you missed it, Zack Snyder recently attended a Man of Steel watch party, at the end of which he announced that he will finally be releasing his cut of Justice League in 2021 via HBO’s new streaming service. When the film first came out in 2017, it was the version completed by Joss Whedon, who stepped in after the director left the project due to a family tragedy. This cut was both a critical and commercial failure, with one of the most publicized issues including a mustache Cavill grew for his performance in Fallout that was hastily (and some say dreadfully) CGI’d out in post-production. As a result, fans for years have been demanding a cut of the movie that more closely aligns with Snyder’s original vision—and last week, it appears that #ReleaseTheSnyderCut finally worked.
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But it’s a lot more complicated than simply recutting existing footage or releasing an alternate cut. Now retitled Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the new film will cost a good deal more than $30 million (a figure first rumored in a The Hollywood Reporter story) to complete.
“It isn’t as easy as going into the vault and there’s a Snyder Cut there to put out. It does not exist,” WarnerMedia chariman Bob Greenblatt said in an episode of the podcast Recode Media, per io9. “Zack is building it and it’s complex…[it’s] a radical rethinking of [Justice League] and it’s complicated, and wildly expensive.”
How expensive?
“I wish it was just $30 million, and [I’ll] stop there!” he said.
Where all this money is going exactly remains a mystery. But io9 raises the new addition of Darkseid (freshly confirmed with a brand-new image on Snyder’s Twitter) as one of the many changes that will likely cost a pretty penny, thanks to all those sweet, sweet VFX.
He's coming… to HBO Max pic.twitter.com/tthWwAqzWp
— Zack Snyder (@ZackSnyder) May 27, 2020
That still leaves plenty of funds for other avenues to “radical rethinking.” Could some of those be re-shoots requiring Cavill to get back in the suit for a fourth time, hopefully sans mustache?
Variety‘s “insiders” say this is unlikely, but neither Warner Bros. nor anyone from Cavill’s team has commented, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on that upper lip when the Snyder Cut arrives on HBO Max in 2021.