It's a bird. It's a place. No, it is Henry Cavill back as Superman. After appearing as a mid-credits cameo in Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam, Cavill took to Instagram to officially confirm his return to the DCU after years away and plenty of questions about his staus as the iconic Kryptonian.
After Justice League's critical skewering back in 2017, it was unclear if Cavill would ever be back in the red-and-blue suit. But he seems primed and ready for the long haul, with The Hollywood Reporter claiming DC is currently working on something that is "essentially... Man of Steel 2."
Despite confirming his return to the newly-dubbed DCU, Cavill has yet to comment on a potential sequel to his heroes' 2013 solo movie. That is, until now!
Henry Cavill Speaks on Man of Steel 2
In an interview on LIVE with Kelly and Ryan, DC actor Henry Cavill publicly addressed the idea of a Man of Steel 2 for the first time.
When asked by hosts Ryan Seacrest and Kelly Ripa what he can say about the potential sequel, Cavill said "Look, I can't say anything official," but "there are definitely murmurings about it:"
Henry Cavill: "Look, I can't say anything official on what will and won't be happening. But there are definitely murmurings about it."
Ryan Seacrest: "You know what those murmurings end up being? True."
Cavill: "We'll see."
Cavill then addressed what went into his return, how he kept it a secret, and his surprise appearance in the newly released Black Adam. He told Rippa and Seacrest that he had been keeping it a secret for " a reasonably long time." He said it remained hidden for so long because the sequence was filmed "all locked down" in a "studio in the UK:
Cavill: "Yeah, a reasonably long time. Not an insane amount of time. But it's one of those things which we shot in secret in the UK and everyone amazingly kept quiet about it."
Ripa: "But I feel like the photographers stock out these movie sets and sit with their cameras waiting to get the shot. So how did you evade all of that?"
Cavill: "We were at a studio in the UK so we were all locked down. No on gets in."
When asked how the Black Adam cameo came to be Cavill credited "Dany Garcia of Seven Bucks and Hiram Garcia and Dwayne Johnson" for working very hard at making this happen," and after "many years of conversation" there came a moment where he heard from the team that they had gotten the "green light," so he "slipped into the suit and came to work:"
Seacrest: "But how did it happen? How did the cameo actually come to fruition?"
Cavill: "How did it happen? Goodness. Well Dany Garcia of Seven Bucks and Hiram Garcia and Dwayne Johnson. They've been working very hard at making this happen. And so over many years of conversation it got to a point where they said, 'Right, okay we are green light for this,' and so then I slipped into the suit and came to work."
The long-time DC actor seems to have put all the baggage that comes along with his DC tenure so far behind him, telling ExtraTV that "the future’s what matters" and he homes to bring " hope, optimism, and joy to the character" this time around:
ExtraTV: “It was long awaited. I mean, what took so long for you to actually say, ’You know what, yeah, I’m gonna put back on [this cape to play Superman]?”
Cavill: “Oh, there’s lots that goes into that. And it’s no[t] just one thing… I could talk about it for days, but let’s look about the future now. The future’s what matters, and bringing hope, optimism, and joy to the character.”
Is a Man of Steel 2 Happening?
While there has been no official confirmation of a Man of Steel 2, it certainly feels like this will be one of the first projects announced by the new regime at DC Studios.
By Cavill not saying anything here, he says everything! His silence is deafening. One can easily see that he is holding something back, and knows a little more than he is leading on.
This is better than him outright denying that the movie is happening when fans all know it actually is. Cavill does not come back if a Man of Steel 2 is not happening.
Sure, it may not be called Man of Steel 2. But it will be the sequel Cavill's Superman never got. He is not back just to pop up in a cameo here and there, he wants (and probably deserves) another stab at the solo film beast.
So, nothing has been 100% confirmed on the Man of Steel 2 front, but if Cavill is back, it has to be coming, right?
