Laurence Fishburne on DCEU

Laurence Fishburne, who played Daily Planet chief Perry White in the DC Extended Universe, says that he expects that his time in the franchise is now over.

He made these comments to the website Den of Geek while promoting Ant-Man and the Wasp, his new film in the rival Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Fishburne played the character—the short-tempered boss of Clark Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill) and Lois Lane (Amy Adams)—in 2013’s Man of Steel and then its follow-up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He was going to have a small part in Justice League, but but it was cut due to scheduling issues, and the actor now says “I don’t think I’m still on call.”

I don’t know that I need to go back or if they’ll have me back or not, but I was grateful to have been a part of it,” he said. “I loved working with Zack [Snyder, director of both films], I think he makes an incredible superhero movie. I’m just excited to be a part of this now,” he added, in reference to the MCU.

In some ways, this is a promotion, as Fishburne has been upgraded from civilian to superhero (albeit a retired one). His character, Bill Foster, worked with the first Ant-Man, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) in his experiments with size-changing technology; able to grow up to 21 feet, he took up the superhero name “Goliath.” (Fishburne’s own son, Langston, plays the character in a flashback scene.)

That said, Fishburne’s comments will interest fans of the DCEU. Many found Snyder’s portrayal of Superman too dour, but Justice League, which was co-directed by an uncredited Joss Whedon, saw him turn into a more traditional version of the character. As such, many fans hope for a Man of Steel 2, to focus on the character without the crossover world-building of Batman v Superman and Justice League. If one is in the works, Fishburne does not seem aware of it.

Man of Steel 2 is supposedly in the works, but then, so are about thirty DCEU projects, so who can say whether or not it will ever get made. For now it remains to be seen if Warner Bros. has plans for that, and if so, whether or not Fishburne gets that call after all.