It’s insane to think that Henry Cavill was under contract as the DCU’s canonical Superman for almost 12 years, with the actor first being announced as the star of Man of Steel all the way back in January of 2011, even if he’d only go on to make four appearances before the October 2022 release of Black Adam marked the end of the line.
The actor has plenty of backers and supporters – which became more evident than ever when James Gunn confirmed he was done as the Big Blue Boy Scout as the franchise prepares to hit the big red button yet again – but his tenure as Kal-El has more often than not been dogged by bad luck.
Having confidently proclaimed that his post-credits appearance opposite Dwayne Johnson’s Man in Black was the beginning of a bright new era where he’d return to the forefront of the DCU, Cavill instead ended up out on his ass. Even more embarrassingly, he was paid $250,000 to shoot another outing under the costume in The Flash, only for it to end up on the cutting room floor.
There don’t seem to be any sour grapes on his part – at least not publicly – after Damian Nakache relayed via Twitter that when The Flash star Sasha Calle was quizzed on whether or not she spoke to either Cavill or the Arrowverse’s Melissa Benoist, both had offered their support, endorsement, and approval of the rising star bringing a Kryptonian superhero the big screen.
It’s a nice gesture on Cavill’s part, but having filmed scenes that ended up being ditched, it does feel a little like the actor has been invited to his ex’s wedding, where he has to sit there and smile through gritted teeth and pretend everything is perfectly fine as he dies on the inside.
