Zack Snyder planned to put Superman through the wringer and seemingly without a single shade of Kryptonite to orchestrate the hero’s rise, fall and eventual redemption. As it turns out, though, Henry Cavill’s time as the Man of Steel fell to the wayside along with the now defunct Snyderverse. But had the DCEU continued, before the announcement of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU, the Last Son of Krypton would have ultimately faced off against Darkseid and redeemed himself. Snyder said in an interview with GQ:

“He was going to have to succumb to the Anti-life, be destroyed, turn the clock back, and then get his chance for this battle against Darkseid. If you will… that would have finished his trilogy of becoming this guardian, and sort of, return him to his humanity.”

Cavill’s iteration of the DC Comics character last appeared in a cameo at the conclusion of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Black Adam (2022). In what was ultimately a brief meeting of the super-powered persuasion, Johnson and Cavill seemed to be setting up a future, big-screen clash between the Man of Steel and the Champion of Kahndaq. However, those hopes fizzled into the history books almost as quickly when Gunn announced at the outset of 2023 he’d be leading a revamped DC Universe — and Cavill was ultimately replaced by a new Superman, David Corenswet.

A Superman for All Seasons, a Man of Steel Who Kills?

 

Even portraying the best superhero in the DCEU could not save Henry Cavill’s version of Superman from being obliterated, as the DCU readies to present moviegoers with a new Last Son of Krypton in James Gunn’s 2025 Superman film. Certainly, there were some issues with Zack Snyder’s version of the DC Comics character. One glaring red flag popped up in a big way at the conclusion of Cavill’s first film in the cape and tights: Superman breaks General Zod’s (Michael Shannon) neck! For those less familiar with the source material, killing is a no-no for Kal-El. But Snyder defended the decision in the same interview with GQ:

“He’s not going to stop. He wasn’t going to negotiate an outcome, so it was either Zod or us. And that was pretty much the game. There was no like middle ground. Zod said he would fight until either you kill me or I kill you […] If Superman can’t handle that position, then he’s fake, then he’s not… you got to like… he’s got to address the scenarios that come to him. He can’t pick and choose, as you can’t pick and choose when something is outside of your morality.”

While Superman killing Zod may not have doomed the character, the Snyderverse seemed hellbent on turning the Man of Steel into a maniac who the other heroes would ultimately have to step up against and battle to the death. The loss of Lois Lane (Amy Adams) would have ultimately driven Supes into the bloodthirsty arms of Darkseid, and even Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Wonder Woman’s (Gal Gadot) murders at the hands of Superman were teased in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

Evil Superman, Ultraman, or whatever fans want to call the renegade Clark Kent… what would have become of Cavill’s Man of Steel in the Snyderverse is now a moot point. And, at the end of the day, Cavill’s most memorable appearance as Superman, in terms of storytelling, came over a decade ago in Man of Steel (2013).