The future is unclear on Henry Cavill in the DCEU, but the actor is happy to return if asked. In an profile for The Hollywood Reporter, Cavill says he has more to do with Superman on the big screen, discussing the depth he brought to the role in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.
“There is still a lot of storytelling for me to do as a Superman, and I would absolutely love the opportunity,” he says. “The killing of Zod gave a reason for the character never to kill again. Superman falling to the ground and screaming afterward – I don’t think that was originally in the script, but I wanted to show the pain he had.”
According to Cavill, multiple takes were done of that moment, some involving genuine tears. The actor “wanted to capture the pain” of the last son of Krypton killing the only other remaining member of his species, and he believes there’s more to explore in that vein. “That’s the choice he made in that moment, and he’ll never do that again,” Cavill explains. “There’s an opportunity for growth after that, to explore the psyche of Superman as a deep, seemingly invulnerable god-like being but with real feeling on the inside. As I always say, ‘The cape is still in the closet’.”
Cavill’s last performance as Superman was in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, an extended cut of the action movie made for streaming service HBO Max this year. In that four-hour-long version, we get to see Cavill as black suit Superman with other heroes Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman, The Flash, and Cyborg.
The odds of Justice League 2 are low, and right now Cavill isn’t slated to appear in any of DC’s upcoming films. That includes The Batman, The Flash, Aquaman 2, and Black Adam next year, as well as Shazam! 2 in 2023, and Wonder Woman 3 sometime as well.
Whether Cavill dons that signature ‘S’ remains to be seen, but we’ll be seeing him in The Witcher season 2 on Netflix in December.