The return of Superman!
Henry Cavill wrote on social media on Monday that he is “back as Superman” after his cameo in the post-credits scene of “Black Adam,” which grossed $140 million globally in its opening weekend.
Henry Cavill remarked in an Instagram video, “I wanted to wait until the weekend was done before uploading this because I wanted to give everyone a chance to watch ‘Black Adam.'” “However, now that many of you have, I’d want to make it official: I am back as Superman.”
Cavill stated that his cameo in “Black Adam” and the photograph of him in the Superman outfit included in the Instagram video — captured by “Black Adam” producer Hiram Garcia — “are only a small taste of what’s to come.” The 39-year-old actor provided no additional information, but he thanked the audience for their warm reception of his return as the last son of Krypton.
“Thank you for your support and thank you for your patience,” Cavill said. “I promise it will be rewarded.”
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Superman’s long-awaited return to the DC Universe has been the subject of years of rumors, cameos, and fan conjecture. In recent weeks, while promoting his film, Dwayne Johnson has also been hyping up a showdown between his anti-hero Black Adam and Henry Cavill’s Superman.
In the 2013 film “Man of Steel,” Cavill made his Superman debut for the first time. Since then, he has portrayed the Son of Krypton only a handful of times: in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016), “Justice League” (2017), “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” (2021), and “Black Adam” (post-credits cameo). (Superman appeared at the end of “Shazam!” in 2019, but Cavill did not play the role, which was filmed from the neck down.)
Many fans believed that Cavill was preternaturally destined for the role, given his uncanny good looks and a superhuman physique. However, all of his appearances as Superman were controversial for one reason or another. Some fans adored Zack Snyder’s physically robust, emotionally agonizing, and morally ambiguous interpretation of the character, while others found it antithetical to what has made Superman one of the most enduring superheroes.
Cavill always appeared to be stuck in the middle. Warner Bros. parted ways with Snyder and his creative vision for the DC Universe, which placed Cavill’s Superman at its center, leaving the actor seemingly behind. But the actor, who has been fronting the popular fantasy series “The Witcher” on Netflix and playing Sherlock Holmes opposite Millie Bobby Brown in the “Enola Holmes” films, has made no secret of his desire to continue wearing Superman’s tights and cape.
In the meantime, J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot has been slowly developing a separate Black Superman project with author Ta-Nehisi Coates for over a year without making any official announcements. David Zaslav, the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, is reportedly frustrated that the character has been gathering dust while Marvel Studios continues to produce at least three feature films annually.
Meanwhile, Johnson and his producing partners have made it clear that their long-term vision for Black Adam involves a robust Superman plot.
Garcia recently stated, “It’s never been about just one fight or a one-off.” “We really want to construct a long-form narrative and demonstrate that these two characters live in the same universe and will have to interact frequently, either on the same or opposite sides. Hopefully, they’ll clash at some time, but it’s not a simple “one battle” scenario.”
