Superman has had a lot of adaptations throughout\u00a0the decades. One version that’s\u00a0had a particularly impressive staying power is\u00a0Henry Cavill’s, from the now-defunct DCEU. The franchise didn’t\u00a0enjoy the greatest of critical receptions, but one aspect often considered a highlight from it\u00a0is\u00a0Cavill’s Clark Kent. Admittedly,\u00a0his portrayal\u2014\u00a0particularly in Batman v Superman\u2014was often controversial due to his overall dourness, but since\u00a0his debut in\u00a0Man of Steel, the general consesus was\u00a0that he\u00a0was a good pick for the role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cavill’s\u00a0time as the character has been over for a long time. However, new content from DC’s previous\u00a0era is still coming to light courtesy of Zack Snyder. The director has been<\/a> sharing pictures<\/a> from his past DC films on social media. Now, the director has shared a new picture on Instagram, this time of Henry Cavill as the Last Son of Krypton. Captioned, “Henry in his natural setting,” the picture shows a filmstrip\u00a0with shots of Cavill as Superman in what appears to be Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (given the actor’s\u00a0hairstyle):<\/p>\n
The filmstrip is due to\u00a0Man of Steel<\/a> and Batman v Superman<\/a>\u00a0being\u00a0shot on film.\u00a0<\/p>\n Snyder has always been public about his love of Henry Cavill as\u00a0the Last Son of Krypton. In October, the director\u00a0captioned a picture<\/a> he posted of Cavill’s Superman\u00a0with: “Henry Cavill is Superman.”\u00a0Speaking\u00a0to E! News<\/a> at the 2013 Man of Steel premiere in New York, Snyder explained what led him to pick Cavill for\u00a0Superman:<\/p>\n \u00a0“Well, first of all, he’s not horribly ugly. […] And he wasn’t in bad shape. And then, he’s a great actor,\u00a0but he also has this other thing, this kind of earnest awesomeness that is\u00a0unexplainable. And that’s what you look for. I think with Superman, you can’t hope for anything more than to have that extra thing that makes him special.”<\/p>\n Man of Steel producer\u00a0Deborah Snyder\u00a0expanded on what made Cavill the right choice for the Big Blue Boy Scout, sharing: “The clincher was our suit wasn’t ready, and\u00a0we were doing a screen test, so\u00a0we put him in the old Christopher Reeve suit, ’cause it’s all we had. And even though that suit was many years old, he put it on,\u00a0stepped out of the\u00a0trailer, and everyone was in awe of him. And we knew at that moment that he was our Superman.”<\/p>\n Upon his return as the Man of Steel in 2022’s Black Adam, Henry Cavill was very vocal<\/a> about his passion for the character. As such, losing the role\u00a0after being so publicly advertised as having it back was a\u00a0difficult situation<\/a>. However, the actor\u00a0took the news in a professional manner. During a conversation on the Happy Sad Confused<\/a> podcast, host Josh Horowitz asked Gunn what it was like to have been forced to tell Cavill he was no longer going to play Superman. Gunn explained the circumstances that led to the shift in direction for DC on film, and praised the actor for the way he took the news:<\/p>\n “It’s terrible. So, we were dealing with trying to figure out if we could take the job at DC Studios, and we’re talking to David Zaslav, and all the legal people there, and figuring out what our deals would be. And the day our deal closed, all of a sudden, they were announcing that Henry was back, and I’m like, ‘What is going on? Like, we know what the plan is’\u2014the plan was to come in and do\u00a0Superman. So it was really unfair to him, and it was a total bummer. […]\u00a0So, yeah, we came in, and that was really unfortunate.\u00a0I’m like, ‘This poor guy.’ And so, Peter [Safran] and I [said], ‘The right thing to do is to sit down with him\u00a0and talk to him.’ And we sat down, we talked to him.\u00a0He was an absolute gentleman, a great guy about it. He said, ‘The only thing I ask is that I’m able to reveal it myself as opposed to it coming from you guys.'”<\/p>\n Though Cavill’s time as Superman ended sooner than he\u00a0and fans expected, at least he\u00a0was able to portray the Man of Steel in three separate features (four, if you count\u00a0Zack Snyder’s Justice League).<\/p>\n Superman will return to the big screen in Man of Tomorrow, scheduled for release on July 9, 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n