Why Henry Cavill’s Superman Never Got a Man of Steel Sequel

Henry Cavill, like all live-action incarnations of Superman, has his dedicated fan base. Much like even the George Reeves or Smallville iterations of the character have their devotees, Cavill’s Superman, who appeared in four separate DC Extended Universe films (five counting Zack Snyder’s Justice League), has garnered a considerable mass of folks who would lay down their swords to claim he’s the best Superman around. Given that, it’s weird to remember that Cavill never got to headline more than one motion picture as Clark Kent/Superman.

While Ant-Man got a trilogy of solo films and Shazam received two standalone features, Cavill’s take on Superman got to be number one on the call sheet just once with 2013’s Man of Steel. After that, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice saw Cavill’s Superman taking a backseat to other DC Characters like Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne/Batman. Given this reality and the fan base surrounding this version of the character, it begs the question of what happened to a solo sequel for Cavill’s Superman.

The Original Man of Steel 2 Plans

A few months before Man of Steel hit theaters in June 2013, the internet was abuzz with reports that Warner Bros. was already preparing a script for a Man of Steel 2. When initially contemplating what Superman’s next step would be in the DC Extended Universe, director Zack Snyder originally thought about bringing Metallo to live-action for the first time. Very quickly, though, it was decided instead to morph Man of Steel 2 into a very different project. Just a little over a month after Man of Steel‘s premiere, a splashy Hall H Comic-Con announcement was made that the next DCEU movie would be a showdown between Batman and Superman.

Why go this route instead of Man of Steel 2? Snyder’s consistently maintained that the concept of having the Kryoptinian duke it out with Batman fascinated him. However, it was surely more appealing to Warner Bros. to race right into a big mash-up between superheroes rather than do another film focused solely on Superman mythology. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe firing on all box office cylinders, shared continuities in film were the hot new thing in the early 2010s. Committing to that required a traditional Man of Steel sequel getting pushed aside.

When Warner Bros. announced in October 2014 a deluge of further DC Extended Universe movies through 2020, the studio also confirmed that another solo Superman film would be released over the next six years. However, no details about the production’s creative team or a release window were confirmed. Clearly, committing to more standalone adventures anchored by Henry Cavill’s Superman was not a priority for Warner Bros. Even in 2018, when Walter Hamada’s era of the DC Extended Universe was beginning to materialize, not even the interest of filmmakers like Christopher McQuarrie could spur further Man of Steel 2 development.

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Man of Steel 2’s Last Gasps

In October 2022, Henry Cavill showed up as Superman on the big screen for the first time in five years, thanks to a Black Adam mid-credits appearance. It was a development that spurred new reports that Man of Steel 2 was finally back as a priority for Warner Bros. as its new leadership navigated what the future of DC movies should look like. Steven Knight penned a Man of Steel 2 script at this point that didn’t move the needle at Warner Bros.

Quickly after this, James Gunn and Peter Safran were installed as the heads of DC Studios. This duo had very specific ideas about what the future of live-action DC projects would look like, and they entailed starting over. The DC Extended Universe, to quote Cavill’s Superman in Dawn of Justice, was “dead. Bury it.” Even with Black Adam providing a sprinkling of hope to Cavill fans that he’d return in Man of Steel 2, the project was never meant to be. July 2025’s Superman quickly gained momentum, thus guaranteeing Cavill’s Superman was a one-and-done in terms of solo superhero films.

Still, Cavill’s Superman got multiple other appearances in further DCEU films, including ones where Kal-El was portrayed by another performer in titles like Shazam! This incarnation of the beloved character didn’t necessarily need multiple solo movies to secure either a formidable presence in pop culture or a loyal fan base. Much like Brandon Routh, though, Cavill only got one chance on the big screen to anchor his own Superman movie with no other superheroes in sight.

Man of Steel is now streaming on Max.