Man of Steel star Henry Cavill has once again declared his interest in continuing the story of his iteration of Superman, with the actor saying that the comic book icon’s transformation from evil overlord to beacon of hope is still something he would be very “keen to flesh out." Cavill has never been shy about voicing his desire to suit up once again as the DC superhero, with the actor and fans no doubt hoping that the studio will eventually listen.
"I was very keen on really fleshing out Superman's early stages of his journey first. We had Man of Steel, and then we went quite a bit darker with Batman v Superman. And if he were to succumb to the Anti-Life Equation and become bad Superman [in Justice League sequels], I really wanted to make sure that we saw the hero Superman and we saw the true symbol of hope, the beacon of light, before we went down the path of darkness and then redemption. It's still something that I'm very keen to flesh out."
Director Zack Snyder's recent, and surprisingly popular, cut of Justice League teased Superman being taken over by the invading supervillain Apokolips thanks to a cavalcade of tragedies which strike the Man of Steel, including the death of Lois Lane. Snyder has since revealed that further sequels would indeed have led to Cavill’s Superman becoming a more familiar version of the character, equating the proposed third Justice League movie with Man of Steel 2.
"I had just assumed that the final movie was going to be very much a Superman movie,” Snyder said of his plans for the beloved character. “Like the final chapter [Justice League 3] was going to be a large percentage of Superman to just bookend the whole thing," Snyder explained. "Because if Batman died, it would have very much fallen on Superman to be the de facto leader. By the way, at that point, Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) would have been made queen of the Themyscira and she would be leading the warriors of Themyscira into battle against Darkseid herself. And Arthur (Jason Momoa's Aquaman) would be leading the armies of Atlantians."
This is far from the first time that Cavill has discussed his want to come back to the world of DC, and the actor recently reiterated a line that is quickly becoming his catchphrase saying, “As I always say, 'The cape is still in the closet,'" as well as teasing the kind of detailed characterisation he had in mind; “There's an opportunity for growth after that, to explore the psyche of Superman as a deep, seemingly invulnerable god-like being but with real feeling on the inside.”
While we wait for Henry Cavill’s triumphant return, there are several other Superman projects currently in the pipeline, including one led by Michael B. Jordan and another being produced by J.J. Abrams and his company Bad Robot. In true Superman form, Cavill recently gave his blessing to both saying, "It's exciting - Superman's far more than skin color. Superman is an ideal. Superman's an extraordinary thing that lives within our hearts. Why not have multiple Supermen going on?" Cavill will next be seen in the second season of Netflix’s The Witcher. This comes to us from GQ Spain.