Thoughts on Henry Cavill as Superman

It’s a pretty exciting time to be a Superman fan! After the lukewarm reception of Superman Returns in ’06 I thought it would be quite some time before Kal-El would be back on the big sreen. So I found myself feeling equal parts elation and nervous anticipation when it was announced that Christopher Nolan would be over seeing a Zach Snyder directed reboot. Snyder is visually ambitious, faithful to the source material, but ultimtley very hit and miss! However Christopher Nolan has made two of my favourite films of all time.

Whether this new Superman means rebooting sans origin story or not remains to be seen, however there are some rumours that any origin segment will focus on the missing 12 years between finding the fortress of solitude and emerging as Superman in Metropolis, a la Superman Birthright comic series.

So after a few months of casting wars on the forums, Henry Cavill has been chosen to take over the tights, and what do I think? Well…I’m quietly confident he can do it. He has been a fan favourite on the boards for years and years, and lost out to Brandon Routh for Superman Returns. He has always been closely linked with the role, and now it is officially his, I’m excited (and a little worried) to see what he does with it.

I actually have not seen him in much, so all I’m going on is the general hear-say that he has sufficient acting chops to pull it off. I guess I have plenty of time to dig into his previous work and get a feel for how he acts.

Going on facial features alone he has it nailed. Chiseled handsome face, blue eyes and dark hair (however my only worry is on his hair, it doesn’t sell me 100% and I’m intrigued to see the first promo pics to see how they are gonna manage it), certainly most of the female reaction thus far has been a collective “phwoar”. And that can only mean a good thing in getting the general audience to go see the movie. He definitely has the body frame to play Superman, but he’s not exactly got the size, mass or tone right now. Therefore I’m hoping that he is chained to the gym and kitchen for now until filming begins this summer. We currently have some seriously pumped Marvel heroes being released this year, and Superman really deserves to look like he can whoop all their asses at once, with one hand behind the back, despite how unlikely a silver screen cross-over would be

Other than Cavill there have been some interesting contenders for role this time, and it’s a tough one because there are so many factors that have to go into casting Superman. Christopher Reeve was pretty much perfect, no forget that not pretty much, he actually was darn perfect. And to the vast majority of people who aren’t hard core geeks he IS Superman. I think it’s a good move that by casting Henry Cavill they are breaking away from that “Reeve-esque” look, whilst still getting someone that looks like comic book Kal-El come to life. I do think Cavill’s facial features scream Superman, definitely not Christopher Reeve, but certainly Superman. I see this as a great mould breaking boon for the character and franchise as a whole.

I would say that Henry Cavill probably is the best compromise of features, physique, height and most importantly acting ability. Sure Manganiello’s physique and height is pure text book, but I don’t think he has the face for it. Matthew Bommer arguably looks even more like Superman in the face than Christopher Reeve did, and yet he doesn’t have the height or the frame for it.

And what about Brandon Routh? Ah yes poor Brandon, I really feel for him. It does seem like he has been shafted hard by Bryan Singers experiment. Warner Brothers don’t want him on the new project presumably because of the connection to the damp squid that was Superman Returns, but I really don’t feel like he was given enough to work with and prove himself with Returns. I do feel like he should be given another shot. However we are where we are,  and as I said at the start of the post, I’m cautiously optimistic that Cavill can pull it off.