Before the DCEU was formed, Zack Snyder was brought on to direct a new Superman movie entitled Man of Steel, with the filmmaker choosing British actor Henry Cavill to portray Superman/Clark Kent. The director told us during our 2011 Man of Steel set visit that, when they auditioned Henry Cavill, they didn't have a suit designed yet, so the director planned on letting the actor use Christopher Reeve's iconic suit from his Superman movies, but the studio wouldn't let him, so they made a replica costume based on that suit's design. The rest, of course, is history, but earlier today, the filmmaker shared a behind-the-scenes photo from that audition, revealing Henry Cavill wearing this suit for the first time. Here's what Zack Snyder had to say about this costume process during our set visit.

"When we tested Henry, we didn't have a costume, so we put him in the Christopher Reeve costume, right, just because Warner Bros. owns it. So I was like, 'Oh, just put him in that. It's fine. We'll know whether it'll work, right?' Of course, then Warner Bros. said, 'You're not allowed to use our costume because it's collectors. It's worth millions of dollars.' I was like, 'It's okay. Fair enough.' So we made one based on it. So we ended up doing R&D. He put it on and the point is is that it's iconographic. Nobody laughed even though it was ridiculously goofy when you actually looked at it, the costume itself, the Christopher Reeve costume. The shoes are made out of tape. It's like, a disaster, right? So, ours was okay. It was the whole thing and it's spandex and it's really not cool."

Before he landed this Superman role, Henry Cavill had tested for a project that never saw the light of day entitled Superman Flyby, that ultimately lead to Bryan Singer's 2006 film Superman Returns, which starred Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel. Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill's 2013 Superman movie Man of Steel ($668 million worldwide) was a much bigger hit than Superman Returns ($390.1 million worldwide), and just one month after Man of Steel hit theaters, Warner Bros. announced Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice at Comic-Con 2013, which helped spawn the massive DCEU universe. Zack Snyder debuted this behind-the-scenes photo on the social media app Vero, which later surfaced on Twitter.

This photo comes at an interesting time, since fans are wondering how the Man of Steel will figure into the Justice League story, since he sacrificed himself to take out Doomsday in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The very last shot of that film did tease that Superman is still alive, but we haven't seen him at all in any of the trailers or photos that have been released at this time. Director Zack Snyder did tease in a recent interview that Superman does play a "big part" in Justice League, and that his "presence and lack of presence" are both huge story points in the movie. With more than seven months left until Justice League hits theaters, it remains to be seen if Superman will be revealed in any of the Justice League footage that surfaces between now and then.

Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash, it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions. Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Ray Fisher as Cyborg. The cast also includes J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Amber Heard as Mera and, reprising their Man of Steel and Batman v Superman roles, Amy Adams and Diane Lane as Lois Lane and Martha Kent. Take a look at this photo of Zack Snyder in a Christopher Reeve replica costume during his Man of Steel audition.