Zack Snyder kicks open the Henry Cavill hornet’s nest by sharing new lost look at his Superman

Henry Cavill fans have yet to recover from the actor’s rough 2022.

After several years of dominating some of cinema’s biggest franchises, Cavill lost several treasured roles last year. He stepped away from his flawless representation of Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s The Witcher, and — after confirming that he was set to return as Superman — likewise lost out on a future as the Man of Steel. The revamped DCU, with James Gunn at its helm, is going in a different direction, leaving Cavill and his fans without proper closure for his take on the iconic character.

Many Cavill fans are still feeling the loss, even as they look ahead to what the DCU could offer. Gunn is certainly taking the franchise in a fresh direction — something it inarguably needs, given the broad unpopularity of most DCEU releases — but the loss of Cavill continues to sting. For many, the actor embodied Superman like no other, and the thought of replacing him feels like an impossible task.

Despite continued trepidation regarding Gunn’s fresh DCU, most fans have largely moved on from the loss of Cavill’s Superman, but Zack Snyder recently reignited ire by sharing a single image to Vero, a fresh social media alternative to sites like Twitter and Instagram. The image, captioned simply with “The Man of Steel photo by @clayenos #fullcircle #afsp #snyderverse,” showcases Cavill’s flawless encapsulation of the role, carefully etched into the purposeful set of his face and the position of his body.

The image instantly re-opened a can of worms Gunn has been hard at work trying to close. Fans, upon once again seeing how wonderfully Cavill portrayed Superman, are back to rallying for the actor, flooding social media with declarations of Cavill loyalty and hashtags proclaiming him as the one, and only, true Superman.

Within hours, a fresh set of hashtags were on the rise on Twitter. Both #HenryCavillIsSuperman and #SellSnyderVerseToNetflix populate the vast majority of Superman chatter on the site, as people once again praise the actor’s performance and decry his detachment from future DC films.

Snyder is clearly still adjusting to the fresh DC direction, and many fans are right there with him. The shared image re-opens a wound that, for many, is still healing, as DC fans adjust to the idea of an almost completely reworked cinematic future for the franchise.

Until Gunn proves himself, it’s safe to say he has plenty of detractors. Snyder fans, in particular, are unlikely to be won over by anything but truly stellar films, leaving Gunn with some seriously big shoes to fill.