Superman has had a lot of adaptations throughout the decades. One version that's had a particularly impressive staying power is Henry Cavill's, from the now-defunct DCEU. The franchise didn't enjoy the greatest of critical receptions, but one aspect often considered a highlight from it is Cavill's Clark Kent. Admittedly, his portrayal— particularly in Batman v Superman—was often controversial due to his overall dourness, but since his debut in Man of Steel, the general consesus was that he was a good pick for the role.
Cavill's time as the character has been over for a long time. However, new content from DC's previous era is still coming to light courtesy of Zack Snyder. The director has been sharing pictures from his past DC films on social media. Now, the director has shared a new picture on Instagram, this time of Henry Cavill as the Last Son of Krypton. Captioned, "Henry in his natural setting," the picture shows a filmstrip with shots of Cavill as Superman in what appears to be Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (given the actor's hairstyle):
The filmstrip is due to Man of Steel and Batman v Superman being shot on film.
Snyder has always been public about his love of Henry Cavill as the Last Son of Krypton. In October, the director captioned a picture he posted of Cavill's Superman with: "Henry Cavill is Superman." Speaking to E! News at the 2013 Man of Steel premiere in New York, Snyder explained what led him to pick Cavill for Superman:
"Well, first of all, he's not horribly ugly. [...] And he wasn't in bad shape. And then, he's a great actor, but he also has this other thing, this kind of earnest awesomeness that is unexplainable. And that's what you look for. I think with Superman, you can't hope for anything more than to have that extra thing that makes him special."
Man of Steel producer Deborah Snyder expanded on what made Cavill the right choice for the Big Blue Boy Scout, sharing: "The clincher was our suit wasn't ready, and we were doing a screen test, so we put him in the old Christopher Reeve suit, 'cause it's all we had. And even though that suit was many years old, he put it on, stepped out of the trailer, and everyone was in awe of him. And we knew at that moment that he was our Superman."
Upon his return as the Man of Steel in 2022's Black Adam, Henry Cavill was very vocal about his passion for the character. As such, losing the role after being so publicly advertised as having it back was a difficult situation. However, the actor took the news in a professional manner. During a conversation on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, host Josh Horowitz asked Gunn what it was like to have been forced to tell Cavill he was no longer going to play Superman. Gunn explained the circumstances that led to the shift in direction for DC on film, and praised the actor for the way he took the news:
"It's terrible. So, we were dealing with trying to figure out if we could take the job at DC Studios, and we're talking to David Zaslav, and all the legal people there, and figuring out what our deals would be. And the day our deal closed, all of a sudden, they were announcing that Henry was back, and I'm like, 'What is going on? Like, we know what the plan is'—the plan was to come in and do Superman. So it was really unfair to him, and it was a total bummer. [...] So, yeah, we came in, and that was really unfortunate. I'm like, 'This poor guy.' And so, Peter [Safran] and I [said], 'The right thing to do is to sit down with him and talk to him.' And we sat down, we talked to him. He was an absolute gentleman, a great guy about it. He said, 'The only thing I ask is that I'm able to reveal it myself as opposed to it coming from you guys.'"
Though Cavill's time as Superman ended sooner than he and fans expected, at least he was able to portray the Man of Steel in three separate features (four, if you count Zack Snyder's Justice League).
Superman will return to the big screen in Man of Tomorrow, scheduled for release on July 9, 2027.