It’s been four and a half years since Henry Cavill last shot any new footage as the DCEU’s Superman, and it was hardly the ideal way to bow out as the franchise’s canonical Kryptonian when the Justice League reshoots saw the mustachioed actor’s top lip subjected to some horrendous CGI alterations in Joss Whedon’s theatrical cut.
Even though we’re fast closing in on half a decade since he last suited up as the Big Blue Boy Scout, neither Cavill nor his legion of fans are willing to give up on seeing him fly back onto our screens. There are currently two Superman projects in the works, with one being spearheaded by J.J. Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates, while the other is being developed by Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society, so there’s a real danger that The Witcher star’s run could be over.
In an interview with Collider, Enola Holmes‘ Sherlock admitted that his potential return is a personal issue as well as a professional one, before sharing his thoughts on Superman’s arc so far.
“I wouldn’t say it’s about the craft or me as an actor. It is personal to a degree. I felt like Man of Steel was a wonderful opening story, an origin story to Superman. It left a lot of space for him to grow beyond that and become the hero that we recognize. Batman v Superman took a hard turn down a darker route and it was a Batman perspective story and so it didn’t really show the aspects of Superman which I was very, very keen to show.
Justice League Snyder Cut definitely leaned into that a bit more. I had a bit more of a gentleness to the tone of the thing, but I would love to have the opportunity to play the Superman that we all know and love from the comics, as a continuation of his development and we see the hero.
That would be really, really exciting for me because there is an opportunity to tell a lot of interesting story there. It’s just about finding the right hooks to have a character that is as good and idealistic as Superman, that there are wonderful opportunities to delve into what it’s like to exist as him and those hardships that come with that. When you have to save everyone, how hard is that on you? That could be an interesting line to run.”
Supporters are never going to give up the ghost on seeing Cavill return as Superman until Warner Bros. or the man himself make an official announcement saying he’s officially done, but it’s surely got to happen sooner rather than later before too much time has passed.