I was excited for and proud of David Corenswet when I learned he had joined writer and director James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy cast as the new DCU’s official Clark Kent. However, I also recognize that some will alway see Christopher Reeve as the definitive Man of Steel, and others are still bummed about Henry Cavill’s exit from the role, and I imagine there are many who still believe no one has topped George Reeves since he debuted in 1951.
Of course, as we could say about the lead role in just all the best superhero movies ever made, none of these icons were the first choice to play the Last Son of Krypton and some big names have been approached to don the old red and blues, but never took flight for one reason or another. Let’s take a look back at some of the most notable actors who almost played Superman — starting with one who is no stranger to live-action DC movies already.
Joe Manganiello
Years after playing Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, Joe Manganiello joined the DC Extended Universe as deadly assassin, Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson — a role met with “much disappointment,” as he ended up only making brief appearances in a post-credits scene in 2017’s Justice League and a dystopian flash-forward in the Snyder Cut. That was actually not his first disappointing experience with a DC role, as he recalled to ComicBook.com, having previously met with Zack Snyder about leading 2013’s Man of Steel. Unfortunately, the actor claims his contractual commitment to one of Manganiello’s best TV shows, HBO’s True Blood, prevented him from taking the time he needed off for the project.
Brendan Fraser
Speaking of disappointing DC movie experiences, Brendan Fraser’s role as pyromaniac villain, Firefly, was one of the things we wished we could have seen in Batgirl before Warner Bros. cancelled the movie. Yet, as he told Howard Stern, the Academy Award-winning star of The Whale experienced his first disappointment involving a DC character in the early 2000s when he auditioned for a Superman movie that never got made, called Superman: Flyby. While Fraser was, admittedly, intimidated by the idea of the Man of Steel being his definitive role, losing the opportunity with the project’s cancellation was a let down, but at least he can say he got to voice RobotMan on Doom Patrol for Max.
Matt Bomer
Speaking of Doom Patrol, Fraser’s co-star, Matt Bomer, plays Larry “Negative Man” Trainor, who must keep his radioactive skin covered in bandages. However, underneath them is a dead ringer for Clark Kent, which is why it comes as no surprise that — according to ComicBook.com — he was also considered for the lead role of Superman: Flyby, coincidentally. Luckily, the former White Collar cast member would go on to voice a couple of iconic heroes in animated DC movies — namely The Flash in Justice Society: World War II and Legion of Super-Heroes, and the Man of Steel himself in 2013’s Superman: Unbound.
Josh Hartnett
Despite having a couple of non-superhero comic book movies under his belt — Sin City and 30 Days of Night — Josh Hartnett has had more than one chance to be a superhero, being an actor who could have played Batman and Superman, as well. The Oppenheimer cast member revealed to Mr. Porter that he turned down the lead role in 2006’s Superman Returns — which eventually went to Brandon Routh — because he was more interested in projects outside of the mainstream following the major boost in fame he got from starring in Pearl Harbor.
Jude Law
Another actor who was considered for the mid-2000s Superman reboot before Routh was cast was Jude Law. The two-time Oscar nominee recalled to Stephen Colbert on Late Show that he actually tried on the hero’s iconic costume in private and initially enjoyed the experience, but was frightened by the idea of seeing what he saw in the mirror on advertisements all over the world. He would eventually take a supporting role in one of the Marvel movies — Yon-Rogg in Captain Marvel.
Sylvester Stallone
An actor who can say he has been in a few of the best Marvel movies and a DC movie, as well, is Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 2 and 3) and The Suicide Squad actor Sylvester Stallone. While he would make his comic book movie as the title role of 1995’s Judge Dredd, it could have happened much earlier when he met with director Richard Donner about leading 1978’s Superman. According to the filmmaker’s words to THR, Donner liked the Rocky movies star, but he was against the idea of casting a big name and eventually got his wish when the then-relatively unknown Reeve was brought in.
Paul Newman
Another big name who was considered to for Donner’s Superman before Reeve was Paul Newman, who was in his early 50s when the film was in development. On an audio commentary recorded for the film’s 2006 DVD release, producers Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler claimed that the future Academy Award winner (for 1986’s The Color of Money) was actually offered the choice to play either Clark Kent, his nemesis Lex Luthor (which went to Gene Hackman), or his father Jor-El (whom Marlon Brando famously played). Newman did wind up starring in a much different kind of comic book movie, Road to Perdition, which, coincidentally, also stars Law.
Will Smith
In 2008, while promoting his own superhero movie not inspired by a comic book, Hancock — in which he plays a cynical, drunken bum with Superman-esque abilities — Will Smith revealed to MTV that he could have been the real thing. He passed on the Superman Returns script, though, because, as he put it, playing Jim West in the 1999 flop, Wild Wild West, convinced him, “you can't be messing up white people's heroes in Hollywood!” The Academy Award winner (for 2021’s King Richard) would later agree to play the anti-heroic Deadshot in DC's Suicide Squad, which turned out to be one of his most financially successful films.
Nicolas Cage
Perhaps the best-known example of an actor who almost played the Man of Steel comes from the story behind one of the most famous (if not infamous) DC movies that never happened — Superman Lives. As he recalled to Variety, in the 1990s, Nicolas Cage was cast in his dream role for the film that was set to be directed by Tim Burton, until it was scrapped after a series of behind-the-scenes issues. However, Cage would eventually receive the honor of playing Superman on two different occasions: voicing him in Teen Titans GO! to the Movies in 2018 and a digitally de-aged cameo in The Flash, in which he fights the giant spider Superman Lives producer Jon Peters requested.
There are several actors our own Sarah El-Mahmoud once thought would be perfect to play Superman after Henry Cavill — such as Yellowstone’s Wes Bentley or Michael B. Jordan, who is producing a miniseries about a Black version of Superman named Val-Zod that we hope still happens. However, as we may come to find out, Gunn and co. choosing David Corenswet, alongside Rachel Brosnahan as his Lois Lane, might work out for the best.
