Although it seems like we’re inundated with superhero stories in Hollywood these days, there are only a handful of people who can claim that they’ve worn the Superman suit in a piece of entertainment. Henry Cavill’s currently rocking the blue and red pajamas for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and one former Superman has weighed in with a (mostly) positive review.
This story will contain spoilers for Batman v Superman. You have been warned!
For five years, starting in 1993, Dean Cain played Clark Kent and his costumed alter ego in the television program Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. With Dawn of Justice in theaters, THR caught up with Cain and asked him his thoughts on the latest Man of Steel. While Cain joked that his son hated the movie (because they dared to kill Superman off in the end), he did elaborate with:
The movie obviously was so well made; the effects were incredible. It was too long, though, and I admit, I dozed off a tiny bit, but maybe that's because I was tired after a lot of traveling. … Whenever I played him, I played Superman as if I had a secret that nobody else knew. That secret is that you could always win. It seemed that Superman didn't have that in this film. That was different for me. I don't like seeing him get kicked around so hard. But what I did like a lot is that Superman was so heroic in this film and sacrificed himself before anything or anyone else. That is definitely in tune with the Superman that I know and love.
It has been fascinating reading so many of the armchair quarterbacks taking Zack Snyder to task for his version of Superman and Batman in Dawn of Justice. Not that the complaints have been wrong. Batman is being criticized for killing foes, and Superman has been deemed too passive. But when a former Superman – an actor who occupied the mindset of the character – speaks up, you tend to listen.
And Cain is right. His version of Superman, as well as the take of the late Christopher Reeve, was more positive and upbeat. Henry Cavill’s Superman hasn’t been able to be the unquestionable beacon of light and hope that the hero is supposed to be. Not yet, anyway. And we fear, in the backs of our minds, that Superman might have to wait a little bit longer to be the clear-cut good guy on the big screen. I don’t know if he’ll ever be as light-hearted and carefree as Dean Cain was, though.
Batman v Superman is in theaters as we speak. Do you agree with Dean Cain’s review? Paste your own take in the comments below.
