Henry Cavill Is Clearly Living His Best Life as 'The Flash' Bombs at the Box Office
Henry Cavill seemed to be living the good life in his latest Instagram post, and some fans could help but read it as a bit of karmic justice after he was dropped from the DC Extended Universe. Cavill shared a photo and a video from his home where he was enjoying good weather, good food, and good company. Commenters cracked jokes about Cavill's career – especially in relation to The Flash's box office performance.
"In my happy place this Sunday, cooking away in the Wild Kitchen with my lady and my hounds," Cavill wrote. "I just wanted to take a moment to say, officially, to the fans I met and stood in front of in Brazil, and Poland recently, that you have touched my heart. Thank you so very much. I want you to know that you are greatly appreciated. Thank you."
Cavill's serene weekend came in stark contrast to the panic among DC film fans – and, they presumed, the team behind The Flash. The movie premiered last weekend and so far its ticket sales have been notably poor. Fans have all kinds of opinions on why certain DC Comics film adaptations have failed in one way or another, and many believe that recasting Superman was a big mistake. They wish Cavill had kept the role – as he almost did, we learned recently.
For those unaware, last week The Hollywood Reporter shared a handful of major revelations about the making of The Flash. They learned that the ending of the movie was re-shot three times as the lineup of executives overseeing the project changed again and again. The movie finds the Flash in an altered reality because his powers have accidentally made a change that rippled through time, which is why Batman is played by Michael Keaton in this movie. The original ending would have shown Barry (Ezra Miller) returning to a timeline that seemed fixed at first, but when he saw the Keaton version of Batman, he would have realized he did not fix everything after all, ending on a cliffhanger.
This reportedly changed drastically when Warner Bros. Discovery shuffled the executives upstream of DC. With new leadership installed, the ending was re-shot to include Cavill as Superman, apparently conveying to the audience that Cavill was still in the game in spite of years between his film appearance. Gal Gadot would have been there as Wonder Woman – presumably for the same reason. This would have built on Cavill's previous cameo at the end of Black Adam as well.
This ending was scrapped as well when WBD hired filmmaker James Gunn and producer Peter Safran to run DC Studios and oversee all upcoming DC movie adaptations. Gunn and Safran have opted to reset the entire continuity established in the DCEU, so they reportedly decided to remove this ending to avoid confusing fans. However, many fans and critics have questioned why this movie was released at all if it will have no bearing on the franchise going forward.
The Flash is in theaters now with a completely different ending from the ones described above. Many of the biggest DC superheroes will be recast entirely in the movies ahead. The next DC Studios film is Blue Beetle, premiering in theaters on Aug. 18, 2023.