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 on Friday to $140 million worldwide. “I wanted to wait until the weekend was over before posting this because I wanted to give you all a chance to watch ‘Black Adam,’” Cavill said in a video posted to his Instagram feed. “But now that plenty of you have, I wanted to make it official: I am back as Superman.”
Cavill said the image of him in the Superman suit included in the Instagram video and his “Black Adam” cameo “are just a very small taste of things to come.” The 39-year-old actor gave no further detail, but he did thank the fans for 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. “I promise it will be rewarded.”
The news comes after years of rumors, cameos and fan speculation about Superman’s long-awaited return in the DC Universe. Dwayne Johnson has also been hyping up a showdown between his anti-hero Black Adam and Cavill’s Superman while promoting his film in the recent weeks.
Cavill first originated his Superman nearly 10 years ago in 2013’s “Man of Steel.” 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 “Black Adam.” (Superman as a character showed up at the end of 2019’s “Shazam!” but Cavill did not play the role, which was shot from the neck down.)
For many fans, Cavill seemed preternaturally destined for the role, between his uncanny handsomeness and superhuman physique. But all of his outings as Superman proved to be controversial for one reason or another. Some fans loved director Zack Snyder’s physically robust, emotionally anguished and morally ambiguous approach to the character, while others found it antithetical to what has made Superman one of the most enduring superhero characters ever.
Cavill always seemed caught in the middle. The actor was seemingly left behind when Warner Bros. elected to part ways with Snyder and his creative vision for the 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’ — has not been shy about expressing his desire to continue donning Superman’s tights and cape.
J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot, meanwhile, has been slowly developing a separate Black Superman project with author Ta-Nehisi Coates for over a year with no further announcements. New Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has reportedly been frustrated that the character has been gathering dust while Marvel Studios continues to pump out at least three feature films a year.
Johnson and his producing partners, meanwhile, have made clear that their long-term vision for Black Adam includes a robust storyline involving Superman. “It’s never been about a one-off or just about a fight,” producer Hiram Garcia recently said. “We really want to craft a long-form of storytelling and show that these two characters exist in the same universe and are going to have to deal with each other often, either on the same or opposite sides. Hopefully they’re going to clash at some point, but it’s not just about a ‘one fight’ situation.”
