Henry Cavill is back as Superman, and a combination of Dwayne Johnson's relentless advocacy on his behalf and the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League are to thank for it. Cavill's Superman finally returned in Black Adam opposite Johnson's eponymous protector of Kahndaq in the film's end-credits scene. Though Cavill's return has thrilled moviegoers and DC fans around the world after years without any clear Superman future, the road to get there was, to say the least, not an easy one.
Comments made by Johnson on the Black Adam press tour have revealed just how long and hard his fight to bring back Cavill was. Meanwhile, the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League in 2021 is one of the key factors in how Johnson was able to ensure Cavill's return, as it redeems Justice League's characters and Superman especially. It culminated in Johnson's planned clash of Superman and Black Adam finally being set up at the end of Black Adam.
Justice League 2017 Killed Interest In Cavill's Superman
The clumsy reshoots used on Justice League were intended by Warner Bros. as a last-minute course correction from the divisive response to Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In the case of Superman, the reshoots were used to accelerate his transition to the classic image of a hopeful Superman (despite Snyder having always intended this as part of Superman's arc). Unfortunately, Justice League's box office failure kneecapped the entire franchise, with Cavill's version of Superman considered a massive dose of Kryptonite.
In Justice League, the mustache of Cavill's Superman, badly masked with CGI, would overshadow his entire role in the film. Furthermore, the theatrical cut's generically cheerful version of the Man of Steel did not win audiences over. To make matters worse, Cavill and Warner Bros. failed to work out a new deal on his post-Justice League future, resulting in Cavill falling away from the role for years. Between Justice League and Black Adam, Superman only made a cameo in Shazam! from the neck down. It would take the release of another version of Justice League to change that.
The Snyder Cut Re-Invigorated Cavill's Superman
After persistent online calls of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, Warner Bros. finally greenlit Snyder's version of Justice League. The announcement came during a Man of Steel watch party on May 20, 2020, featuring Snyder, his producing partner and wife Deborah, and also Cavill. Released in March 2021, the dramatically different Snyder Cut was vastly better-received than the 2017 theatrical version, with the reputation of Cavill's Superman improving immeasurably from its release.
Not only was the Superman mustache nightmare no more, but viewers finally saw Cavill's resurrected Superman at his peak as the upbeat, re-energized symbol of hope he was always intended to be in the film. In turn, that revived mainstream interest in Cavill's future as the Last Son of Krypton, even in the face of Warner Bros. dubbing the Snyder Cut "a story-telling cul-de-sac" and following up with another faceless Superman appearance in Peacemaker. Meanwhile, another player behind-the-scenes was determined to get Cavill back in the cape.
The Rock Fought For Six Years For Cavill's Superman
Johnson first began teasing the idea of Black Adam as a rival to Cavill's Superman as far back as 2016 and would regularly drop teases of it in appearances at DC FanDome and other interviews relating to Black Adam. Even as he did so, behind-the-scenes, Warner Bros. was resisting putting Cavill in the cape again. Ahead of 2022's San Diego Comic-Con, rumors also began to arise that Cavill would arrive during Hall H's DC panel to announce his return, though this did not happen. Johnson himself was not able to provide much clarity on the Superman situation beyond answering a question about Black Adam battling the Man of Steel, saying that it "depends on who's playing Superman," to audience boos. Looking at how the Superman situation has unfolded, this may have been an intentional move by The Rock pressuring WB to bring Cavill back.
With Cavill's Black Adam cameo filmed just a month before the movie's release, Johnson also began giving candid comments on the six-year struggle to bring Cavill back during the movie's press tour. Johnson specifically spoke of the previous administration of Warner Bros. as having stopped Cavill's return, with later reporting revealing then-DC Films president Walter Hamada repeatedly denied Johnson's request for Cavill to cameo in Black Adam. This led to Johnson going to Warner Bros. Pictures co-chairs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, who finally approved Cavill's Black Adam cameo.
The Snyder Cut's Release Was Essential To Cavill Returning
For as hard as The Rock and Seven Bucks Productions had to fight for Cavill to return, the Superman of Snyder's Justice League, as Cavill's last appearance before Black Adam, was also an invaluable asset in that struggle. Only Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Jason Momoa's Aquaman managed to avoid the career fallout from 2017's Justice League. It left the impression at the time that Cavill's Man of Steel inspired little to no widespread interest in his DCEU future, with endless memes of Cavill's bizarre CGI face across the internet.
The release of Zack Snyder's Justice League re-ignited audience goodwill towards Cavill's Superman. Cavill was not alone in this respect either, with Ben Affleck gravitating back to being the DCEU's Batman with appearances in The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. The foundation of the Snyder Cut's reception gave Johnson the basis to convincingly argue for Cavill's return as part of Black Adam's long promised DCEU power change. Even then, the resistance he was met with was only finally resolved at the 11th hour by De Luca and Abdy's approval, just in time for Cavill to shoot his cameo for Black Adam. Without the positivity towards Cavill's Superman performance in the Snyder Cut to fall back on, the resistance Johnson was facing may well have been nearly impossible to overcome.
With such a rollercoaster of change and tumult in the DCEU over the last half decade, Cavill's Superman comeback can be pinpointed in the second chance Zack Snyder's Justice League provided. Cavill's Superman has an exciting future ahead of him, which would not have been the case without The Rock's extensive efforts to bring him back. At the same time, Zack Snyder's Justice League and the rejuvenation it provided to Cavill's Superman was an indispensable tool, enabling Johnson to help prevent further headless Superman cameos in Black Adam and beyond.
