Not Man of Steel but Henry Cavill Almost Starred as Another DC Character in $2.4B Movie Trilogy
British actor Henry Cavill is undoubtedly one of the most talented actors in Hollywood. Having debuted in 2001, he has starred in some great projects. He gained recognition for his portrayal of Charles Brandon, the first Duke of Suffolk in Showtime’s TV series The Tudors which ran from 2007 to 2010.
Henry Cavill starred as Superman in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, released in 2013. However, it was revealed that Superman was not his first attempt at being cast as a superhero, specifically a DC superhero as he reportedly auditioned for the role of Bruce Wayne aka Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. The role eventually went to Christian Bale who went on to star in the next two sequels of the movie.
Henry Cavill Reportedly Almost Played Batman
The Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Universe are two of the most popular franchises across the world as people’s fascination with superheroes might have diminished but has not gone extinct. DCEU’s Snyderverse is one of the most beloved sub-franchisees and receives the same amount of enthusiasm even after so many years. In fact, it was a matter of great disappointment for fans when it was announced that Zack Snyder had parted ways with DCEU.
Zack Snyder’s DCEU was partly successful because of Henry Cavill’s awesome portrayal of Superman aka Clark Kent which continues to win millions of hearts. It was once reported that the Enola Holmes actor had his sights set on the DC superhero Batman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy.
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This was not the first time Henry Cavill was linked to a role and certainly will not be the last given how good he is at playing every single character that he has taken up. However, in an interview with IMDB (via QwertyVersion2), Cavill insisted that he might have talked about the role at some point but neither auditioned for it nor screen-tested.
Henry Cavill Will Not Be Returning As Superman
Although Henry Cavill‘s Superman has received mixed reviews from critics, it is still one of the best portrayals of the superhero. In fact, Cavill would have debuted as Clark Kent much sooner if McG’s 2004 film Superman: Flyby had happened. Unfortunately, McG was replaced by Bryan Singer who cast Brandon Routh in the titular role of the movie named Superman: Returns.
In October 2022, Cavill announced on his Instagram handle @henrycavill that he would be returning as Superman after an uncredited cameo in Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam. However, two months later, he announced that he would not be doing so. The decision was taken after James Gunn and Peter Safran took over the reins of the DC Films.
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While the news was shocking and received a lot of backlash from fans on social media, Gunn and Safran have great plans to revive the DCU which has not been doing too well lately. A reboot of the franchise has been planned which will be put into action post the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Although this will not compensate for Cavill’s absence as Superman, it can only be hoped that fans will love what is in store for them.
Source: QwertyVersion2, henrycavill/Instagram
