Henry Cavill has had quite the past 10 years. Since becoming Superman in 2013’s Man of Steel, the British actor has headed up numerous other high-profile projects, including various DC sequels and a bevy of reboots and sequels. Unfortunately, Cavill’s success rate at the box office is not all that great. For every Mission: Impossible – Fallout, there’s a The Man from U.N.C.L.E. And for every Batman v Superman, there’s a Black Adam. Cavill will likely be keen to buck this troubling trend with his new spy thriller, Argylle.
Unfortunately, in the process, Cavill might’ve made the perfect MCU role for him obsolete. Throughout its production, director Matthew Vaughn had kept a lid on what the big hook of his latest movie was, with the cat finally being let out of the bag (very literally, in this case) with the new trailer. You see, Cavill’s titular secret agent Argylle is actually a fictional character, created by Bryce Dallas Howard’s novelist. The trailer promises Argylle will be a fun, fresh spin on a well-worn genre. If only it didn’t mean Cavill can’t be the Sentry now.
Henry Cavill’s Argylle and Marvel’s Sentry have something in common
For years, comic book fans have wanted Cavill to play one of Marvel’s many Superman analogues in the MCU, with the Sentry being a popular suggestion — probably in part thanks to the Sentry’s long blonde hair resembling Geralt of Rivia’s white wig. Sentry is an interesting character as he was introduced as a middle-aged, overweight man named Robert Reynolds who discovers his whole life is a fiction and he’s really the superhero Sentry, who has had previously had his mind wiped.
Going by the Argylle trailer, the story is bound to go in a very self-aware direction, with it even being teased that Argylle is a real person, not just a fictional character. Hey, it’s possible Howard’s Ellie Conway is the real Argylle and her mind has been wiped of her past, much like Sentry. With Vaughn’s film set to touch on many of the same themes as the superhero’s story, then, it seems unlikely Cavill would be drawn to retreading old ground in the MCU. So maybe cross this one off your fan-cast lists, guys.
Of course, rumors have it that Steven Yeun could be playing a reimagined Sentry in Thunderbolts anyways, so it might all work out for the best as it is. Cavill’s career has taught us that he’s keen to constantly try new things, so he’s probably not all that interested in simply playing a Superman-alike in the MCU to start with.
