Man of Steel remains an incredibly divisive movie among DC fans. Some loved filmmaker Zack Snyder's mythic approach to superheroes, while others felt that he made Superman too dark.
There were plenty of controversial moments to be found in the 2013 blockbuster, whether it was the deaths of Jonathan Kent and General Zod or simply the casting of Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Still, most agree that Henry Cavill was a worthy Kal-El.
Now, Snyder has shared his first photo of the British actor wearing Christopher Reeve's Superman suit. What Cavill eventually wore on screen didn't have too much in common with these classic duds, and the Deadpool & Wolverine star bulked up a lot for the role.
"15 years ago, on this day, I pressed the shutter and met Superman," the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice helmer wrote on Instagram. "The first photo I ever took of Henry Cavill — moments before he stepped into legend. Shot on my Nikon."
Cavill would go on to play Clark Kent in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. Had Snyder been able to tell the story he mapped out across his planned Justice League trilogy, Superman would have fallen under the influence of Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation and laid waste to the world in the Knightmare timeline we caught a few glimpses of.
Snyder's wider plans for Superman didn't come to fruition, but Cavill eventually returned to the DCEU in Black Adam's post-credits scene. He also shot a cameo for The Flash, though DC Studios decided to scrap that to avoid promising fans a story they'd never see (eventually, David Corenswet was cast as the new Clark Kent).
"People are always like, 'You changed Superman.' If you’re a comic book fan, you know that I didn’t change Superman," Snyder previously said. "If you know the true canon, you know that I didn’t change Superman. If you’re a fan of the old movies, yeah, I changed him a bit."
"My point is that we don’t take liberties [from the characters’ comic origins]…what we’ve done is create a place where they can really be the mythological characters as designed in the comic books," the director said, adding, "The thesis of Superman for me, that you can’t just have superheroes knock around and have there be no consequences."
Check out this newly revealed photo from Cavill's first time wearing the Superman costume in the Instagram post below.