"Sacrilege!" and "This is not Superman!" were the cries that greeted MAN OF STEEL set photos in late 2011 when photos of a bearded, super-shredded and extremely hirsute Henry Cavill leaked online. The primal beast-like appearance seemed aggressively alpha masculine compared to the gentler depictions of Superman in the earlier films and media and something more suited to Wolverine suggested many people.
MAN OF STEEL star Cavill had previously shaved his torso for the 2011 actioner Immortals to show off his muscle definition, but for MAN OF STEEL, he decided to give the razor a skip. Here's why.
It's something that I wanted to because in the comic book Death of Superman, there's this bit where his costume's ripped, and he's making the ultimate sacrifice and he's got this hairy chest and I was like "Okay, Why is the perception that because he's muscly, he must have no body hair?" And I thought why can't we just do that, like in the comic books. And so we did.
And well because, real men have chest hair!
Death Of Superman
Cavill set photo from late 2011
Image Courtesy Gym Jones
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.