DC’s Justice League movie will forever live in infamy after director Zack Snyder dropped out of the film during post-production, and Avengers director Joss Whedon was brought in to reshape and finish the film. Of all the many changes that Whedon made to Justice League, one of most controversial was how Whedon approached the issue of Superman actor Henry Cavill’s facial hair. By the time of Justice League‘s reshoots, Cavill had been busy with production on Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and was sporting a full mustache. That facial hair had to be removed from his new Justice League scenes using expensive CGI, and the “Superman Mustache” ultimately took on a life of its own.
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As you can see below, Warner Bros. and Justice League‘s makers probably could’ve saved themselves a lot of time, effort, money and scandal, if they had simply gone in the other direction. Henry Cavill would’ve definitely looked a lot better with full-on Superman facial hair:
OTHER: New JL behind-the-scenes image of Henry Cavill as Superman with his glorious princess-saving mustache from r/DC_Cinematic
This shot from behind-the-scenes of Justice League show what Cavill would’ve looked like without the CGI effects used to remove his mustache. As many fans on Reddit are pointing out, it’s actually a pretty good look for the actor, which would’ve played well with this particular Superman story.
Justice League largely adapted the “Death and Return of Superman” story arc from ’90s DC Comics, and in that story, Superman dies fighting Doomsday, and is resurrected by Kryptonian technology. However, when Superman does return, he does so with a much different look than we’ve ever seen, sporting long hair and a full beard.
The Justice League movie pays homage to the Return of Superman in some ways – and Zack Snyder admittedly paid much bigger ode to the comic book story, complete with a Superman’s iconic black resurrection suit. If Whedon had simply kept what Snyder had already done, and/or just added facial hair to Cavill for reshoots, the final cost probably would’ve been lower, and the final result better. What say you?
DC’s Joker is now in theaters. Upcoming DC Movies include Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2020.
