Henry Cavill posted to social media on Monday that he is “back as Superman”following his cameo in the post-credits scene of “Black Adam,” which opened onFriday to $140 million worldwide.
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“I wanted to wait until the weekend was over before posting this because Iwanted to give you all a chance to watch ‘Black Adam,’” Cavill said in a videoposted to his Instagram feed. “But now that plenty of you have, I wanted tomake it official: I am back as Superman.”
Cavill said the image of him in the Superman suit included in the Instagramvideo and his “Black Adam” cameo “are just a very small taste of things tocome.” The 39-year-old actor gave no further detail, but he did thank the fansfor their enthusiastic response to his return as the last son of Krypton.
“Thank you for your support and thank you for your patience,” Cavill said. “Ipromise it will be rewarded.”
The news comes after years of rumors, cameos and fan speculation aboutSuperman’s long-awaited return in the DC Universe. Dwayne Johnson has alsobeen hyping up a showdown between his anti-hero Black Adam and Cavill’sSuperman while promoting his film in the recent weeks.
Cavill first originated his Superman nearly 10 years ago in 2013’s “Man ofSteel.” He has played the Son of Krypton just a handful of times since then:in 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” 2017’s “Justice League,”2021’s “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” and a brief post-credits cameo in “BlackAdam.” (Superman as a character showed up at the end of 2019’s “Shazam!” butCavill did not play the role, which was shot from the neck down.)
For many fans, Cavill seemed preternaturally destined for the role, betweenhis uncanny handsomeness and superhuman physique. But all of his outings asSuperman proved to be controversial for one reason or another. Some fans loveddirector Zack Snyder’s physically robust, emotionally anguished and morallyambiguous approach to the character, while others found it antithetical towhat has made Superman one of the most enduring superhero characters ever.
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Cavill always seemed caught in the middle. The actor was seemingly left behindwhen Warner Bros. elected to part ways with Snyder and his creative vision forthe DC Universe, which placed Cavill’s Superman at its center. But the actor —who has kept busy on Netflix fronting the popular fantasy series “The Witcher”and playing Sherlock Holmes opposite Millie Bobby Brown in the “Enola Holmes”films — has not been shy about expressing his desire to continue donningSuperman’s tights and cape .
JJ Abrams’s Bad Robot, meanwhile, has been slowly developing a separate BlackSuperman project with author Ta-Nehisi Coates for over a year with no furtherannouncements. New Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has reportedly beenfrustrated that the character has been gathering dust while Marvel Studioscontinues to pump out at least three feature films a year.
Johnson and his producing partners, meanwhile, have made clear that theirlong-term vision for Black Adam includes a robust storyline involvingSuperman.
“It’s never been about a one-off or just about a fight,” producer Hiram Garciarecently said. “We really want to craft a long-form of storytelling and showthat these two characters exist in the same universe and are going to have todeal with each other often, either on the same or opposite sides. Hopefullythey’re going to clash at some point, but it’s not just about a ‘one fight’situation.”
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