'Teen Titans Go!' star Khary Payton hopes Henry Cavill will finally get to show Clark Kent's lighter side now that he's back as Superman

• Khary Payton has voiced the DC Comics character, Cyborg, for the past two decades.
• Payton told Insider he thinks the recent changes at Warner Bros. and DC are "wild."

"Teen Titans Go!" star Khary Payton was surprised to learn director James Gunn is heading up Warner Bros.' revamped DC Studios as co-CEO with producer Peter Safran.

"It's wild," Payton told Insider of Gunn's hiring while discussing the final episodes of "The Walking Dead" over Zoom on Thursday. "Warner Bros. is definitely taking a wrecking ball to everything and building it back up."

Since merging with Discovery earlier this year, WB has canceled its nearly-completed "Batgirl" film, an HBO Max "Wonder Twins" movie, and overhauled a "Green Lantern" series.

Payton is no stranger to the DC universe.

For the past 20 years, the actor has voiced Cyborg across WB's "Teen Titans" animated shows and movies. The eighth season of "Teen Titans Go!", DC's longest-running animated series, recently launched in October on Cartoon Network.

"I love James Gunn. Good luck to him because I love DC," Payton said of the director who has made films for both Marvel Studios (the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise) and Warner Bros. (2021's "The Suicide Squad").

"I was a Marvel kid growing up, but I have been a DC guy ever since I moved to Los Angeles," Payton continued. "I became Cyborg in 2002, 2003. So it is close to my heart. All I wanna see is them do good. I'm looking forward to seeing the next iteration."

But Payton shared there was another piece of DC news from earlier this week that made him even happier: the return of Henry Cavill to the role of Superman.

On Monday, Cavill confirmed on Instagram he'll reprise his role as the Man of Steel in future DC films following a shocking cameo in "Black Adam."

A post shared by Henry Cavill (@henrycavill)

"I'm also really excited — I worked with Henry Cavill. When I first moved to LA, we did a horror movie together and way back then we were like, 'That guy's just waiting to be Superman,'" Payton told Insider of appearing with Cavill in 2005's "Hellraiser: Hellworld."

Cavill went on to play Superman in 2013's "Man of Steel," 2016's "Batman v Superman," and 2017's "Justice League." Most recently, he appeared in Zack Snyder's 2021 cut of "Justice League." Payton and Cavill briefly reunited in 2018's "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies," where Cavill voiced the iconic DC hero.

This time around, Payton said he hopes fans will get to see Cavill bring more of his own personality and a lightness to the duality of Clark Kent and Superman. In the past, Cavill's Superman has been criticized for being boring and brooding.

"I'm so glad that they're going to continue to have him play Superman because Henry's hilarious. Henry is so funny," Payton said of what others may not realize about the actor. "I think that if they lean into him being kind of that silly Clark Kent that it could — I mean, he's already great. I think that the more they let him play, he's just gonna be awesome. I can't wait to see it."

Payton may be onto something.

During a live taping Josh Horowitz's "Happy, Sad, Confused" podcast at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Cavill said: "There is such a bright future ahead for the character, and I'm so excited to tell a story with an enormously joyful Superman."

Everything we've seen so far from Cavill's return in "Black Adam" suggests a lighter, more nostalgic reboot to the character. The film ditched 2013's "Man of Steel" Superman theme for John Williams' classic one. Additionally, Cavill wore a brighter suit, one that the actor picked out himself because of nostalgia.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, work on a "Man of Steel" sequel is currently underway.