While his role as the Man of Steel in the now-discontinued DCEU franchise may be a thing of the past, Henry Cavill may never be forgotten as one of the greatest Superman in cinema history. Taking on the mantle of the Beacon of Hope in 2013’s Man of Steel, the star created a legacy for generations to come.
But if the stars had aligned in his favor before his eventual introduction into the old franchise, then we may have seen him portraying another superhero from the pages of DC Comics. But the crazy part is the fact that he wasn’t just rejected for one DC role, but for three different ones before Zack Snyder saw the potential in him.
1: Batman (Batman Begins)
By far one of the biggest upsets that a true Henry Cavill fan feels is when they come to know that the star was actually in the running to play Bruce Wayne in the iconic The Dark Knight Trilogy created by Christopher Nolan. He stated that although he was being considered for the role by the casting director, he never went ahead and auditioned for it.
This could very well have been the career-changing opportunity that he needed early on on his journey to stardom. Christian Bale eventually became the star that led the franchise to its glory.
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2: Superman (Superman Returns)
Not only was he rejected for the role of DC superheroes in the past, one among them was for the exact same character he would later immortalize himself in the film industry with. Since 2003, there had been the proposition to create a new Superman project for the big screen, but the project hadn’t been finalized as it was changing hands with different filmmakers regularly.
During that phase, the Enola Holmes star was scouted for the role, until the project finally landed in Bryan Singer’s hand, who eventually cast Brandon Routh as the titular superhero.
3: Green Lantern (Green Lantern)
The most recent rejection that Cavill faced before his assumption of the role of Superman in the DC cinematic franchise was 2011’s Green Lantern. This time, the star went ahead and gave it his all for the auditions to play Hal Jordan in the aforementioned film, but Ryan Reynolds was the actor who finally bagged the role.
However, it was a blessing in disguise for Cavill as the film would go on to be called the worst DC film in history that almost ruined Reynolds’ career.
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What Is Next For Henry Cavill?
While the role of Superman may have been the biggest and most successful of his career, Cavill had to eventually say goodbye to it after Warner Bros. announced the reboot of the entire DC franchise. Thus, new CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran decided to create a new legacy without the star.
But it wasn’t a big loss for him, since his upcoming and proposed projects are more than enough to hype the public. Recently, we got the trailer for his upcoming spy/thriller Argylle which will be starring many other high-profile stars. Along with that, recent reports by Lionsgate have confirmed that the star will also be leading their upcoming fantasy franchise reboot of Highlander with director Chad Stahelski at the helm of the project.
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Man of Steel, streaming on Max.
