Henry Cavill is a big fan favorite as an actor. This is not only because he has portrayed Superman and the Witcher, but also because he seems to be a total nerd. But did you know how he started his career?
Henry Cavill is probably one of the most popular actors among nerds. He portrayed Superman in the DC universe and was Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix Witcher series for 3 seasons. He is also a well-known celebrity among Warhammer fans, because he is not only a passionate fan of the universe, but also works on a series.
Aside from that, he has also appeared in many other films and series, and long before Superman, he was already working as an actor. In this article, we take a closer look at the course of his career.
Dogs can also be fans of Cavill:
The Best Friend of Henry VIII
How did Henry Cavill’s career begin? His first role was in the lesser-known film Laguna in April 2001. He played the young Thomas, who was raised in New York by his uncle. At the release, he was not even 18 years old. After that, he starred in new films annually. In 2002, it continued directly with the film Monte Cristo by Kevin Reynolds.
It took some time before he had a real career breakthrough. Between 2003 and 2007, he had rather smaller roles, even in some pretty bad films, like the direct-to-DVD sequel Hellraiser – Hellworld (2005). However, Cavill’s career had its first turning point with the historical series The Tudors (2007–2010).
The series is loosely based on the historical figure of Henry VIII. There he played the character Charles Brandon and had with Jonathan Rhys Meyers as King Henry the most episodes at 38. Brandon was considered a good friend of the king.
You can find a trailer for The Tudors here:
But the big breakthrough came with his role in Man of Steel (2013). The film marked the start of Zack Snyder’s DC universe and for many fans, the actor remains THE Superman to this day. Even then, he displayed his nerdiness. In an interview during the film’s promotion, he showed that he is familiar with the character. He named the comics Death of Superman, Rise of Superman, Superman: Red Son, and Superman/Batman: Search for Kryptonite. as his inspirations.
Superman and Witcher
With Man of Steel, Henry Cavill ultimately became a worldwide star. As Superman, he starred in 2 more films, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017). The 3 films with him as Superman grossed over 2.2 billion US dollars (about 1.87 billion euros) worldwide, which is quite a significant success (via Box Office Mojo).
In between, action roles followed, such as in Codename U.N.C.L.E (2015) or Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). Alongside lesser-known roles in 2 more films, 2019 saw another role that made many nerd hearts beat faster: The Witcher.
For Netflix, he embodied Geralt of Rivia from 2019 to 2023. For 3 seasons he played the role of the Witcher, but 2022 was not a particularly good year for him. After James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios, it became known that a new DC universe would be developed without Cavill. In addition, he hung up the role of Geralt after season 3 (Source: Variety).
In recent years, Henry Cavill has mainly been seen in action roles. Notable mentions would be Argylle (2024) or The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024). While these may not be huge highlights that brought in a lot of money, they haven’t harmed his reputation with fans much.
Interestingly, he even appeared in the Marvel universe in 2024. As The Cavillrine, he made a guest appearance as a Wolverine variant in the film Deadpool & Wolverine.
Giant Robots and Muscled Types: The Future of Henry Cavill
What about the future of Henry Cavill? Looking at which projects are still on the horizon, it almost seems like Cavill is just at the beginning. His 3 most interesting future projects are:
- The reboot of Highlander, in which he embodies the main character MacLeod. As of now, there is no official release date for the film.
- In 2024, it was announced that a Voltron film is being worked on at Amazon MGM. In this film, he is also set to take on the leading role. Voltron is a cartoon franchise in which pilots control giant robots.
One of his most anticipated projects is probably the series on Warhammer 40,000. He is generally considered a passionate Warhammer nerd, who is also well-acquainted with the lore behind the universe. When the series will be released and what role he will play is still unknown. All that is known is that the series is being produced at Amazon.
You can see his next film in theaters starting May 21. In the Grey is a new action film by Guy Ritchie. So there are still several projects with Cavill on the horizon. He is not the only celebrity who is privately involved with Warhammer 40,000: Henry Cavill is probably the most famous fan of Warhammer 40,000; these 5 celebrities also serve the Emperor
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