‘Thank you for your patience, it will be rewarded’: Few statements have ever aged as poorly as Henry Cavill’s Superman ‘return’

If you can believe it, it’s been exactly one year since Henry Cavill triumphantly took to social media and announced that after much speculation, he was back on a permanent basis as the DCEU’s Superman following a lengthy sabbatical from screens.

By the time Black Adam hit theaters everybody knew he was going to show up in a cameo appearance – mostly because star and producer Dwayne Johnson simply stopped being vague about it and shouted it from the rooftops instead – but it’s incredible to see just how much was promised for zero reward.

As well as setting up a showdown between the Man in Black and Man of Steel, The Rock teased potential Black Adam sequels and spin-offs for the Justice Society, and even went about setting up a completely different crossover between the two omnipotent demigods in DC League of Super-Pets, only for James Gunn to decide he wasn’t interested in the slightest.

That only intensified Cavill’s reputation as perhaps the single unluckiest actor in all of Hollywood, but it was downright embarrassing for the franchise veteran to take to the internet and proclaim that Black Adam was “a very small taste of what’s to come, my friends. The dawn of hope renewed. Thank you for your patience, it will be rewarded…” only to end up being tossed out on his ass shortly after.

It’s stating the obvious to say a lot of fans still aren’t over it, but it still would take less time for milk to curdle than Cavill’s statement if you launched it into the sun.