Henry Cavill’s role in Deadpool & Wolverine was one of the MCU movie’s best moments – and it was one that he apparently suffered for. Deadpool & Wolverine was stuffed full of cameos that mostly comprised actors returning from previous Marvel movie franchises. A handful, however, were of actors making their MCU debuts in roles that may yet still come to fruition – and Henry Cavill’s brief scene as a cigar-chomping Wolverine was one.
In an interview with The New York Times, director Shawn Levy revealed that in order to get into character, Cavill had a cigar in his mouth for the entire shoot day. This led to him getting sick the following day after spending eight hours inhaling cigar smoke all for the sake of a scene that ultimately lasted mere seconds – albeit seconds that left a lasting impression. While lavishing praise on Cavill’s portrayal to the degree that he can envisage him as a worthy Hugh Jackman replacement, the director explained:
[Henry] not only had that pumped-up muscular body but kept that cigar lit and in his mouth for the entirety of the shoot day. I remember hearing the next day that Henry was sick to his stomach because he had been inhaling cigar smoke for eight hours straight, but never once did he waver.
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In the same interview, Levy leveled praise at Ryan Reynolds for coming up with the “Cavillrine” moniker that Deadpool deployed during the scene. Deadpool followed this up by making a fourth-wall-breaking comment that Marvel would treat Cavill better than DC, which dropped Cavill as Superman in 2022 before announcing the DCU reboot. Levy elaborated on this and the choice to cast Cavill, stating:
In the case of Henry, it was not long after everything went down with DC and word came that Henry was being replaced as Superman. Given that Deadpool is in constant conversation with culture, it felt like a great opportunity to first of all cast Henry Cavill in a part that he would kick ass at, but also to poke fun at that other comic-book-founded movie studio and play with some self-awareness there.
Cavill has long been the subject of fan casts for the MCU, with Wolverine being one of the foremost ever since Disney acquired Fox and reclaimed the distribution rights for the X-Men. This appetite for the Cavillrine was apparently shared by Reynolds, who stated in an interview with Collider that re-casting Wolverine from Jackman was a near-insurmountable task. He went on to elaborate on how he settled on Cavill, stating:
It was born of, if I had to cast someone as Wolverine and the guy who has made it canon in every way, shape, and form on-screen and off wasn’t available for some reason…Henry Cavill.
Another of the most popular Marvel fan casts for Henry Cavill is Captain Britain.
Reynolds also praised Cavill for being a “great sport” when approached about what he considers to be the movie’s only “real cameo.” Cavill himself recently broke his silence on the role, compounding Deadpool’s jab at the DCEU with a post via Instagram that featured a still of his big reveal. In his third appearance as Superman in Justice League, audiences lambasted the CGI work that removed a mustache from Cavill to make him a clean-shaven Superman, which Cavill addressed with the short caption:
To be safe, I shaved the moustache off for this one. Just the moustache.
Cavill’s Cavillrine now has the Marvel fandom abuzz with the hope that he will reprise his Deadpool & Wolverine role down the line. Whether this will transpire will likely remain unclear until the MCU starts casting for its own X-Men franchise in earnest. For now, however, there is a greater chance that Jackman might make one more cameo appearance in the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars until he finally passes the torch.
