Warning: SPOILERS for Black Adam are ahead!
In 2013, Henry Cavill debuted as Superman in Man of Steel, the first entry in the DC Extended Universe. Cavill went on to reprise the role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League (both versions), but until recently, it’d been half a decade since the actor last wore the cape, with Superman being represented by a body double in Shazam! and the Peacemaker Season 1 finale. But now Cavill is back as Superman thanks to the new movie release Black Adam, and Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. The Rock, has reacted to his fellow DCEU star’s return.
Following Black Adam’s end-credits scene showing Superman paying a visit to the eponymous protagonist in Kahndaq, Henry Cavill confirmed that his appearance was “just a very small taste of things to come.” In other words, we’ll be seeing more of Cavill’s Superman in the coming years, and Dwayne Johnson hyped up this big news with the following post on Twitter to accompany Cavill’s video message.
We fought for years to bring you back. They always said no.But to @DanyGarciaCo @hhgarcia41 & myself no” was not an option.We can’t build out our DCEU w/out the world’s greatest superhero.And fans will always come first. Welcome home.I’ll see you down the road.~ #BlackAdam pic.twitter.com/5HLtxm7a6yOctober 25, 2022
Although Zack Snyder’s Justice League provided the public the opportunity to see the original footage of Henry Cavill from Justice League (the four-hour cut can be streamed with an HBO Max subscription), for a long it was unclear if we’d ever see him playing Superman again, particularly since a reboot was in the works from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and producer J.J. Abrams. Anyone who’s followed along Dwayne Johnson’s DC efforts know he’s wanted Black Adam and Cavill’s Superman to cross paths, and as The Rock laid out above, he and his producing partners Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia (who got to see Black Adam’s Superman scene being shot) didn’t give up trying to bring Cavill back into the DCEU fold. They ultimately accomplished this, and now Cavill’s run as Superman has gotten a second wind.
While Dwayne Johnson has promised that Black Adam and Superman will fight someday, it’s looking more like that won’t happen immediately after Black Adam. Instead, it’s been reported that Warner Bros. is looking to spotlight Henry Cavill’s Superman in his own movie next, though whether it would be called Man of Steel 2 or something else is unclear. Today also brought the big news that James Gunn will be co-running DC Studios with Peter Safran, and one would imagine that mapping out the future of Cavill’s Superman is high on their to-do list.
Once it’s officially cemented when Henry Cavill will make his first post-Black Adam DCEU appearance, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, Netflix subscribers can see Cavill reprising Sherlock Holmes in Enola Holmes 2 starting November 4, and he continues to lead the hit TV series The Witcher. Cavill will also star in the Apple TV+ movie Argylle, which is due out sometime in 2023.
