Henry Cavill has ideas for a return to playing Superman: 'The cape is still in the closet'

The box office disappointment of 2017's Justice League made the big-screen future of DC superheroes uncertain. But after years of fan agitation, the four-hour cut of Zack Snyder's Justice League was released on HBO Max earlier this year, reviving interest in Snyder's original superhero cast. Does that mean that those actors might continue those roles in the future? Henry Cavill — who played Superman in Snyder's Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice before Justice League, and is currently the star of Netflix's The Witcher franchise — wouldn't say no.

"There is still a lot of storytelling for me to do as a Superman, and I would absolutely love the opportunity," Cavill told The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview. "The killing of Zod gave a reason for the character never to kill again. Superman falling to the ground and screaming afterward — I don't think that was originally in the script, but I wanted to show the pain he had. I did far more emotional takes they didn't choose; tears were happening. He just killed the last remaining member of his species. That's the choice he made in that moment, and he'll never do that again. There's an opportunity for growth after that, to explore the psyche of Superman as a deep, seemingly invulnerable god-like being but with real feeling on the inside. As I always say, 'The cape is still in the closet.'"

Earlier this year, Warner Bros. hired acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates (Between the World and Me) to script a new Superman movie, and the expectation is that it will star a Black actor as the Man of Steel. Michael B. Jordan, who has said he has no interest in the role himself, is also producing an HBO Max series about Val Zod, a Black Kryptonian character from DC Comics.

Cavill told THR that he's excited by these projects, and doesn't see them as an impediment to his possible return to the red cape.

"It's exciting — Superman's far more than skin color," Cavill said. "Superman is an ideal. Superman's an extraordinary thing that lives within our hearts. Why not have multiple Supermen going on? Joaquin Phoenix did a wonderful Joker movie; so what if it's not tied to the rest of [the franchise]? They have multiple Superman comic book storylines happening at the same time."

To that point, Tyler Hoechlin is still starring as Clark Kent on the CW's Superman & Lois. The days when DC avoided having multiple versions of the same character on screens at the same time are clearly over, as Ezra Miller and Grant Gustin's simultaneous interpretations of the Flash can attest.

Read THR's full interview with Cavill.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

• Michael B. Jordan shoots down Superman rumors: 'I'm just watching on this one'
• Ta-Nehisi Coates tapped to write new Superman movie produced by J.J. Abrams
• Season of The Witcher: Inside Netflix's rapidly expanding cinematic universe