Exclusive: Henry Cavill Wants To Move Superman Away From Zack Snyder Version
Henry Cavill wants to play Superman as light and hopeful, as opposed to the dour Zack Snyder version.
Update November 2022: While Henry Cavill might have wanted Superman moved away from the Zack Snyder version, the whole DC universe moved away from the old stories with James Gunn shifting the focus.
Henry Cavill is interested in moving his version of Superman away from the grim, dark version seen in the Zack Snyder DC Universe films and toward a more hopeful version of the character. According to our trusted and proven sources, Henry Cavill may be more interested to continue portraying Superman if the tone that Zack Snyder first set in Man of Steel is basically lightened up a bit. Warner Bros. has been making a lot of changes recently, which might make this a good time for some character shifts.
The DC Universe has had a chaotic film history, to say the least. Beginning with Man of Steel in 2013, Henry Cavill has played mild-mannered, strangely jacked Daily Planet reporter as well as Superman, which he continued in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, both versions of Justice League, and most recently, in Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam. However, despite the ever-shifting tone of the DC Universe, post-Zack Snyder, Henry Cavill’s Superman seems stuck in dour, self-serious mode.
Largely, this can be explained by the simple fact that Henry Cavill had only played Superman in Zack Snyder films, up until Black Adam. While the merits of Zack Snyder’s filmmaking can be debated (and certainly are), it cannot be denied that his filmography can largely be described as “extremely serious” and “really, really, serious” and possibly even “does he know these are comic book movies?”
In the movies that Henry Cavill has played Superman, the focus of the character has largely been his inherited trauma of the destruction of Krypton (Man of Steel), whether his very existence is a threat to the human race (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), or being dead (Justice League). Unsurprisingly, there has not been a whole lot of time for levity for the character.
Now, it seems that Henry Cavill would like to play a Superman that has a lighter tone. In DC Comics, Superman and Batman have traditionally been used as contrasting figures, with the former representing justice and light and the latter vengeance and darkness. In Zack Snyder’s version of things, both heroes were pretty much portrayed as brooding, internally conflicted characters, which does not seem like too much fun.
In DC Comics canon, Superman is generally portrayed as a hero who inspires the best in others. Even in Zack Snyder’s version of things, the S emblem on his costume (or battle-suit, if you ask Snyder) is a symbol of hope. However, he has rarely been portrayed that way in the films so far.
It has been an open question whether Henry Cavill will continue to play Superman in the DC Universe, with reports that the often-delayed, reportedly near-finished Flash movie has a younger actor playing the Last Son of Krypton at some point. However, it sounds like if Warner Bros. wants to keep Henry Cavill as Superman (and it seems it really does), the studio needs to let the character cheer up a bit. Hopefully, he cracks a smile at some point when he is fighting Black Adam.
