How Henry Cavill’s Superman Return Came About

Now that “Black Adam” has been out for a few days, it’s pretty much common knowledge that Henry Cavill’s Superman makes a return in a post-credits sequence, with the Man of Steel set to return in his own film currently in development at Warner Bros. Pictures.

Dwayne Johnson spoke with ComicBook.com about Henry Cavill’s return to playing Superman, and how the post-credit scene in “Black Adam” came about.

In the latest episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Behind the Screen podcast “Black Adam” Cinematographer Lawrence Sher recalls how the whole thing came about from a production point of view.

“If we can get Henry to be in it, then we’ll figure that out on a future date.”

Johnson’s half of the scene was filmed as the final shot on the final day of additional photography. After filming Johnson’s half, the team put together the second half of the scene with a body double and a version of John Williams’ 1978 Superman theme they found on Google. In this version of the scene, they never showed the actor’s face, only the Superman emblem on his chest. But it was clear the idea was solid.

“Watching an actor come out of a full silhouette into that, was actually goosebumps. ‘Wow, this is 100 percent going to work. Now they need to figure out if they can get the guy with the head to be there,'” Sher recalls.

“Black Adam” began testing the movie with that scene thrown in, and the reaction renewed the urgency to secure Cavill.

“I went to a test screening… in which they did the version without his head… and it played gangbusters,” says Sher. “Then it was like, ‘Now we got to get Henry.'”

Listen to the entire podcast at The Hollywood Reporter.