Henry Cavill, who made his debut as the iconic Superman in 2013's Man of Steel, is still up to playing the DC hero yet again. In fact, he also believes there can be multiple Supermen.
Cavill recently discussed many of his iconic roles, particularly his breakout one in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel reboot. While that film became an immediate success, with many fans demanding a direct sequel, DC continued to head down its shared universe direction with crossover films like 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Joss Whedon 2017's Justice League.
"There is still a lot of storytelling for me to do as a Superman, and I would absolutely love the opportunity," Cavill said during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Cavill delved deeper into his emotional scene where Superman breaks his moral code to kill General Zod and how that ultimately gives his character a reason to never kill again. "There’s an opportunity for growth after that, to explore the psyche of Superman as a deep, seemingly invulnerable god-like being but with a real feeling on the inside. As I always say, 'The cape is still in the closet.'"
While Cavill claims he is still up to play Superman in future films, he is also thrilled about the idea of DC having more than one Superman. “It’s exciting — Superman’s far more than skin color,” said Cavill. "Superman is an ideal. Superman’s an extraordinary thing that lives within our hearts. Why not have multiple Supermen going on? Joaquin Phoenix did a wonderful Joker movie; so what if it’s not tied to the rest of [the franchise]? They have multiple Superman comic book storylines happening at the same time." Joaquin's portrayal as the iconic clown would earn him the Academy Award for best actor while also leading the film to rack up 11 nominations, so maybe a new Superman could potentially push the character to new exciting territories that have not been explored yet in previous depictions.
The disappointing box office numbers and critical reception both Batman v Superman and Justice League received eventually forced Warner Bros. and DC to regroup (especially with the growing controversies surrounding Whedon's disastrous film and reports of the director's abusive behavior onset). That, combined with the announcement in May 2021 that DC was developing a Black Superman film, only raised further questions about whether or not Cavill's Superman would soar back to the big screen.
Even though a direct sequel to Man of Steel has not been announced, fans can catch up on Cavill's previous work in films such as Mission: Impossible - Fallout, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Enola Holmes while also seeing him in other exciting projects like The Witcher season 2, which is coming to Netflix next month, and the upcoming spy thriller Argylle from Kingsman's Matthew Vaughn. Along with Cavill's work, DC's slated films for 2022 like The Batman, Black Adam, The Flash, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom should no doubt leave many fans satisfied in the meantime.
Various Superman films are available to stream on HBO Max.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter