Warning: SPOILERS for Black Adam are ahead!
It’s a good time to be a fan of Henry Cavill’s Superman right now. Although we saw the original footage Cavill shot for Justice League last year in Zack Snyder’s Justice League (which can be streamed with an HBO Max subscription), it had been over half a decade since the actor performed in the DC Extended Universe, with the Man of Steel being portrayed by a body double in Shazam! and the Peacemaker Season 1 finale. Then Black Adam came along, with Superman appearing in the mid-credits scene. On the subject of the Kryptonian superhero, Black Adam producer Hiram Garcia opened up to CinemaBlend about getting to help continue the story of Cavill’s Superman, whom he called “the greatest ever.”
While chatting with our own Sean O’Connell during the Black Adam press rounds, Hiram Garcia credited Dwayne Johnson and fellow Seven Bucks Productions co-founder Dany Garcia for spending the better part of six years to get Henry Cavill into this latest DC movie. Dany Garcia in particular was crucial to pulling this off given that she’s managed both Johnson and Cavill’s careers for years. Eventually the day came to shoot Black Adam’s Superman cameo, and Hiram Garcia recalled what it was like seeing Cavill back in the suit on the set, saying:
I'll never forget going to London to meet Henry, for us to shoot that scene. Seeing him for the first time in the costume, I was just like, ‘Here we are.’ (laughs). It was one of the highlights of my career, I immediately called Dany and DJ afterwards, and we were just ecstatic to be at that moment. It took so much to finally get him on screen, to get the permission to get him on screen. And, you know, he is the Superman of our generation. You can argue he's the greatest ever. And the minute you see him come on screen, everyone knows it right away. We're just honored to have been able to get that into the movie, and to be able to have the opportunity to now continue the storytelling for Superman.
Black Adam marks Henry Cavill’s fifth DCEU appearance (counting both versions of Justice League), with Superman flying into Kahndaq after Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller informed Dwayne Johnson’s title character that she could call in a favor from someone not from this planet to deal with him. Black Adam’s release comes nearly a decade after Cavill debuted as Superman in Man of Steel, and as Hiram Garcia said, it was great to personally see the actor back wearing the cape and the ’S’ insignia after so long away.
Although Superman is also being portrayed by in live-action these days by Tyler Hoechlin in The CW series Superman & Lois, there’s definitely plenty of people who share Hiram Garcia’s belief that Henry Cavill is the Superman of the current generation, if not the definitive live-action take on the character. So for the producer, both getting to play a role in bringing the actor back into the DCEU fold, as well as seeing hom reprise Superman firsthand, was delightful. To make a good situation even better, Cavill’s Black Adam appearance wasn’t a one-off occurrence, which is something Garcia and others have been fighting to ensure.
For those who missed the big news, Henry Cavill announced on social media Monday that Superman’s quick scene in Black Adam was “just a very small taste of things to come,” and that statement followed less than a week after it was reported that Warner Bros. is looking to spotlight Superman in the DCEU again. Whether that happens in the Black Adam vs. Superman showdown that The Rock has been promising or another standalone Superman movie first remains to be seen, but evidently we’re entering the next phase of his Man of Steel run. It’s unclear what Cavill’s return as Kal-El/Clark Kent will mean for the Superman reboot being written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and produced by J.J. Abrams.
While we wait for the next big piece of news about Henry Cavill’s Superman to drop, look through our guide going over upcoming DC movies. The next installment on that docket is Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which hits the big screen on March 17, 2023.
