Black Adam: Henry Cavill's Superman Contract Revealed
From faceless Superman to a future face-off with Dwayne Johnson, Henry Cavill's Man of Steel returned over the weekend in Black Adam's end credits scene. Reprising the role he originated in 2013's Zack Snyder-directed Man of Steel and 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the cameo marked Cavill's first time in the role since 2017's Justice League. (Cavill did not film additional scenes for the Snyder Cut of the reworked superhero ensemble, released last year as Zack Snyder's Justice League.) After faceless cameos played by body doubles in Shazam! and the Suicide Squad spin-off series Peacemaker, Cavill is making it official: Superman has returned.
"I wanted to make it official — I am back as Superman," Cavill said in a video posted to Instagram Monday. Thanking fans for their "support and patience," Cavill added Black Adam's Superman cameo is just "a very small taste of things to come."
Cavill signed a "one-off deal" to cameo in Black Adam, according to The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision newsletter. Sources add studio Warner Bros. is "definitely interested in more" from Cavill, including a second solo outing.
Henry Cavill's Man of Steel 2
The report comes just days after it was reported Warner Bros. Discovery is actively developing what would be Man of Steel 2, a Superman stand-alone led by Cavill. Charles Roven — producer of Man of Steel and such DC films as the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy and Wonder Woman — is seeking writers for the project being put together by new Warners film bosses Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy.
Black Adam filmmakers shot Cavill's cameo in secret — a last-minute addition that nearly went ahead without the actor and Superman's face. With Cavill back in the cape, the Black Adam mid-credits scene teases a conflict between the Man in Black and the Man of Steel.
Dwayne Johnson Explains Black Adam End Credits Scene
"I think the question is, should it be the showdown [with Superman]? I don't know if that's the way to go," Black Adam star and producer Johnson exclusively told ComicBook. "And when fans watch Black Adam and they see the end, and they really pay attention, as I know they will... as they pay attention to the words that were said, they pay attention to the nuance of the looks. We'll let that lead us."
Johnson added: "We can't go right there right away. Now we've gotten to a great place where we've delivered for the audience. And when I say 'we're listening to the audience,' they know we mean it. And when we say, 'we're building up the DC Universe,' we mean it. This is what we mean. And when we say, 'welcome home,' you know who I'm talking about."
Black Adam Superman Cameo Explained
After calling in the superheroes of the Justice Society — Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) — a hologram of A.R.G.U.S. Director and Suicide Squad assembler Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) gives Black Adam his "only warning" not to step outside of his homeland Kahndaq.
"Kahndaq is your prison now. You step one foot outside of it, you will not live to regret it," Waller warns. The Kahndaq champion scoffs: "There's no one on this planet that can stop me."
"I can call in a favor and send people who aren't from this planet," Waller fires back, not talking about Task Force X. Not intimidated, the god-like Black Adam tells her to "send them all."
"As you wish." With that, Black Adam fires a bolt of superhuman electricity, destroying the hologram. Through the smoke comes Waller's favor. Up in the sky. It's not a bird. It's not a plane. Wearing a brightened blue and red suit, his yellow emblem emerging from the darkness like a beacon — it's Superman.
"It's been a while since anyone's made the world this nervous," Superman tells an unyielding Black Adam. With just a hint of the classic John Williams Superman theme, the Man of Steel says: "Black Adam... we should talk."
Black Adam is now in theaters.