The superhero world was shaken by the news that Gunn and Safran have reportedly canceled Wonder Woman 3. Just two months ago, we reported that the script for the third movie starring Gal Gadot was already completed. New reports suggest that director Patty Jenkins was informed that Wonder Woman 3 has been canceled, at least in its current iteration. The shuttering of Jenkin’s Wonder Woman 3 has cast a deep shadow on Henry Cavill’s return as Clark Kent, aka Superman, in the Man of Steel sequel. The actor recently parted ways with the Netflix series The Witcher and announced that he is officially back as Superman after a brief cameo in Black Adam. Cavill’s announcement was true at that particular time as Warner Bros. was indeed planning a sequel to Man of Steel. Director Andy Muschietti was reportedly interested in leading the project and planned for the film to have a tone similar to the 1978 movie directed by Richard Donner which has been regarded as a benchmark for superhero flicks. However, it was before Gunn and Safran started planning a new trajectory for the DC Universe. The focus of this new plan is an overarching storyline that would include all of the DC Universe. According to reports, the co-CEOs of DC Studios will be meeting with David Zaslav and other Warner Bros. executives next week to present their vision for the future of the DC Universe. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that one possible scenario is the “closing of the curtains of the Snyderverse.” “The first, which builds on the shuttering of Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3, is the closing curtain of the Snyderverse, and the heroes cast by filmmaker Zack Snyder for his Justice League,” THR writes in its report. “This one sees the shutting down of Man of Steel 2, with a returning Henry Cavill, and having no more Aquaman, fronted by Jason Momoa.” The report says that the Justice League characters will be part of the upcoming Flash movie. However, sources within Warner Bros. are saying that there is a debate going on in the studio regarding its plans to include the cameos or not. The scenes featuring Superman and the rest of the Snyderverse Justice League may end up on the cutting room floor after post-production. Interestingly, the news of Wonder Woman 3 being canceled and the speculation that Man of Steel 2 is in limbo come on the heels of Black Adam’s disappointing box office performance. Depending on whom you ask, the much-hyped movie starring Dwayne Johnson either lost a significant amount, broke even, or earned a small profit. Perhaps James Gunn is just cleaning the house to make way for the “next slate” of movies in the DC Universe. Gunn may have pressed the big red “reboot” button on the DC Universe to make one coherent timeline for the movies, TV shows, and video games that the studio is planning to make. This is all rumor and speculation at this point as Zaslav, Gunn, and Safran have yet to make an official announcement regarding the matter. We will have more updates regarding Man of Steel 2 when more information becomes available.
