Shazam! ended with a big laugh, as Billy Batson surprised his best pal/adoptive brother Freddie Freeman at school by having Superman show up in the cafeteria. All we see is Big Blue from below the neck and Freddie’s shocked reaction before the credits cut in, but it’s a fun cameo to wrap up the movie with. Originally, however, this scene would’ve been somewhat longer and actually featured Henry Cavill back in the tights.
Director David F. Sandberg has now shed some light on how the extended cameo would’ve played out as well. During a Q&A on his Instagram account, the filmmaker teased some of the extra beats that had to be cut when Cavill didn’t end up returning, explaining that in the actual scene, it’s Zachary Levi’s stunt double standing in for the Man of Steel star. If Henry had returned though, here’s how it would’ve gone down:
“He sat down at the table. They had a brief chat. There was a joke about [sort of] school food and then it ended with Freddy just leaning into him, and it going like, ‘I have so many questions,’ and then it cut out.”
As it was clear that this was the plan for a long time, you might be wondering why Cavill didn’t show up in Shazam! Well, it’s been widely assumed that this is one of many clues that the British star is done as the character for good, following the disappointment of Justice League – much like his Batman co-star, Ben Affleck.
Alternatively, Sandberg has suggested it was merely a case of scheduling conflicts as they only had a limited time to shoot in the middle school they filmed at in Toronto and couldn’t make it work with Cavill. So, there might still be hope that we’ll get some more from the actor as the Last Son of Krypton after he’s done with The Witcher. Maybe even in one of the Shazam! sequels? Or the Black Adam movie? Dwayne Johnson would definitely get a kick out of that.
