‘Justice League’ Actors Not Part of James Gunn’s New DCU

Some interesting details about James Gunn’s DCU in Variety’s ‘Aquaman 2’ article. It turns out that Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot and Ezra Miller will NOT be reprising their roles in Gunn's upcoming DCU.

In fact, none of the stars cast by Zack Snyder for 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and 2017’s “Justice League” — including Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller and Momoa — will reprise their roles in the new DC universe in character.

Also in the article, Momoa might return, just not as Aquaman. He’s in talks to play Lobo, either in the 2025 reboot “Superman: Legacy,” written and directed by Gunn, or in a standalone film.

As much as I like to complain about Marvel movies, at least a handful of them (five or six) are worth a watch. Can the same be said about the old DCEU? Not really.

“Joker” doesn’t count. I guess parts of “Wonder Woman,” “Man of Steel,” and “Shazam” worked, but I wouldn’t ever consider them to be good movies. Otherwise, I hated “Aquaman,” “Wonder Woman 1984”, “Birds of Prey”, “Justice League”, “Batman v Superman”, and “Suicide Squad.”

With that in mind, James Gunn demolishing the old DCEU is not that surprising. I know there are fans out there who grew attached to these characters, and the actors playing them, but the cold hard truth is that fans have been fed mediocre movie after mediocre movie these last 10 years.

I get it, Henry Cavill was a good Superman, he sure as hell looked the part, but the movies were NOT GOOD. I don't think Cavill was ever the issue, but that the cards he was dealt with from the start we’re rotten.

Zack Snyder’s ‘Batman vs Superman’ movie was the beginning of the end for the DC universe — it came to the point where everything released after that one felt more like damage control.

The biggest mistake Warner Bros. ever made was to hire Snyder, especially over someone like Darren Arofonsky. Let us not forget George Miller was also supposed to direct “Justice League” before his plans got scrapped. Ditto Ben Affleck, who might have given us a more interesting interpretation of Batman.

These good filmmakers were all laid to waste in favor of Snyder’s usual over-stylized shtick: ultra slow-mo, dark interiors and exteriors, cameras zooming in and out of action sequences.