Henry Cavill was just on the verge of finally getting Superman right before he was harshly replaced with David Corenswet in the DCU.

Henry Cavill charmed fans as Superman for years. As such, it came as a shock when news of his abrupt departure from the franchise spread. What made it even harder to digest was that Cavill announced just some days before the devastating news that he would be reprising his role in a new movie in the future.

However, there seems to be another reason behind fans’ disappointment about Cavill being replaced in the role. That is, the fact that he was just on the verge of getting the character right before David Corenswet took his place.

Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel | Credits: Warner Bros.

Henry Cavill was replaced as Superman just on the verge of getting it right

Rumors of Henry Cavill’s departure from the franchise had been rife for some time. However, fans became hopeful after his appearance in Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam. Unfortunately, that hope wasn’t to last as James Gunn announced that he will be rebooting the entire DCU with new actors no matter the cost.

While it sounded fantastic for the future of the franchise, it became a gut punch for Cavill and his fans, who were sure of the actor’s DC future after the announcement of a new Superman movie starring The Witcher star just a month before.

Inevitably, the backlash had been quite heavy-handed, with even Dwayne Johnson commenting on Cavill being replaced (Variety) after he went through all that effort to bring him back in his movie.

It’s almost like when you have a pro football team, and your quarterback wins championships, and the head coach wins championships, and you have a new owner. And the new owner comes in and says, ‘Not my coach, not my quarterback. I’m going to go with someone new’.

For some fans, what made this news hit even harder was the fact that Henry Cavill’s Superman was just on the verge of getting it right before being completely cut off.

That is, he was finally turning a new leaf from the bleak storylines his feature in the franchise has been burdened with for so long. As a user pointed out on the r/superman subreddit,

What has and always will bother me the most about this is that Henry Cavill could and should have made a wonderful Superman with a hopeful script and an optimistic tone. Zach Snyder wasn’t the guy to do that. Every movie he made for DC was terrible and Superman was easily done the worst injustice by his ‘edgy deconstructive’ storytelling.

In fact, there was another aspect of Black Adam that made Cavill’s Superman finally shine through the screen. As such, the lost opportunity to witness more of it stung fans just as badly.

Henry Cavill brought his best Superman version to the wrong movie

For all of the praises Henry Cavill garnered during his DC stint as Superman, one complaint hounded him for years. That is, the darker, almost steely, and neutral tone of his suit. While this added a great deal of depth to Zack Snyder’s overall bleak storyline, many fans took issue with it as it went against how they viewed Superman, i.e., as a symbol of hope.

Henry Cavill as Superman in Black Adam | Credits: Warner Bros.

As such, many were of the mind that someone like that should be decked up in brighter colors true to the comics, with more of an optimistic bearing. Unfortunately, this was a distinctive quality that Henry Cavill lacked in his Superman movies.

At least, that was the case until Black Adam. While the movie tanked at the box office, it finally rectified the one complaint fans had against Cavill’s appearance as the Kryptonian superhero. A brighter red and blue suit? Check. The magnificent S curl of his hair? Check. An optimistic look in his eyes with a soft, hopeful smile? Check and Check.

It is interesting that although his role was limited to a cameo in the movie, Cavill shone brighter than Johnson’s Black Adam with just these intricate changes in his appearance as Superman. Hence, it is no wonder that fans still feel disappointed that Snyder did not capitalize on this look in the previous movies.

Well, whatever the case, Henry Cavill’s Superman days are long over. Although Cavill’s fans have a lot to say about David Corenswet taking up the mantle from him, one thing they can’t complain about is how comic-appropriate Corenswet looks.

The trailer for the upcoming Superman movie has also shown the spark of hope that was missing from Cavill’s movies for so long. Nonetheless, only time will tell how the movie will turn out in the end. For now, though, fans seem to be waiting with bated breath for it to hit the screens this summer.

Superman flies into theaters on July 11th, 2025.