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Henry Cavill was slated to play Superman long before he bagged the role in 2013’sMan of Steel.
Back in the early 2000s, theDawn of Justicestar was set to star as Clark Kent in a now-shelved film titledSuperman: Flyby, a controversial project which was written by popular filmmaker and composer J.J. Abrams before it got canceled. The movie’s script faced immense backlash, besides an inflated budget and hindrances in production, all of which culminated inFlyby‘s demise.
However, as the saying goes, everything happens for a reason. So, while one opportunity got snatched away from Cavill, another one worth $668 million presented itself right in front of him, albeit, years later theSuperman: Flybyfiasco.
Related:Is This Man of Steel 2? Henry Cavill Sets Internet Ablaze With New ‘Superman: Man of Tomorrow’ Trailer Created Using the Power of AI
Henry Cavill Almost Starred in J.J. Abram’s CancelledSupermanFilm
Before Zack Snyder’sMan of Steelmade a fortune at the box office and became a global hit,Henry Cavillwas fully prepared to appear as Superman inSuperman: Flyby. According to reports, Cavill, 39, was not only selected to portray Clark Kent on the big screen in the movie but he’d even shot a handful of scenes for the same. What’s more, the film was apparently also supposed to star MCU star Robert Downey Jr. opposite Cavill as the renowned supervillain, Lex Luthor. But the movie died down before it ever even truly began.
The major reason whyFlybymet the horrid fate of being mothballed was due to its problematic script which AICN rebuked so brutally in 2002 that Abrams was left with no other choice but to kill the project.“You’ll believe a franchise can suck!”, that’s how harsh AICN’s reviews had been.
Coming to the writing part of the film, Abrams had taken certain controversial liberties concerning the superhero’s mythology wherein he refurbished quite a lot of content to present an entirely different take on Superman. And while that might’ve been a contentious decision on his part, it certainly was intriguing at best.
Related:“I originally auditioned for Superman”: Shazam 2 Star Zachary Levi Was Ready to Shave His Head to Play Lex Luthor Before CW Changed Its Plans
J.J. Abrams Revealed Some Details FromFlyby‘s Script
In an old interview withEmpire, theStar Trekdirector shed light on certain aspects regarding the script of his shelvedSupermanfilm. While he didn’t dish out the more precarious tidbits from the movie, Abrams did explain his vision behind Superman’s death and incarnation and how he’d retooled just the right amount of content from the mythology to lay the foundation forFlyby’s seemingly unique premise. Yeah, he’d been planning on killing the hero.
“The thing that I tried to emphasize in the story was that if the Kents found this boy, Kal-El, who had the power that he did, he would have most likely killed them both in short order. And the idea that these parents would see – if they were lucky to survive long enough – that they had to immediately begin teaching this kid to limit himself and to not be so fast, not be so strong, not be so powerful.”
Related:Amidst Henry Cavill Backlash, James Gunn Promises ‘Superman: Legacy’ Won’t Be Like His Oddball Marvel Movies
TheMission: Impossible IIIdirector further explained how the psychological repercussions of that would comprise feelings of mortification,“self-doubt”along with“fear of oneself.”
“Extrapolating that to adulthood became a fascinating psychological profile of someone who was not pretending to be Clark Kent, but who was Clark Kent. Who had become that kind of a character who is not able or willing to accept who he was and what his destiny was…The idea in the movie was that he became Superman because he realized he had to finally own his strength and what he’d always been.”
Safe to say, Abrams had ‘a deeply troubled Superman tormented by his own demons’ kind of scenario in mind while writing the script.
Man of Steelcan be streamed on Netflix.
Source:Slash Film
Khushi Shah
Articles Published :857
With a prolific knowledge of everything pop culture and a strong penchant for writing, Khushi has penned over 700 articles during her time as an author at FandomWire.An abnormal psychology student and an fervent reader of dark fiction, her most trusted soldiers are coffee and a good book.
