Heads up – spoilers for Shazam! are lurking beneath the below image. Not seen DC’s latest outing yet? You’ll probably want to turn away and come back once you have.
Still here? Then you’ve likely caught Shazam! on the big screen, and found your ribs consistently tickled by it. And the film goes out on a great sight gag cameo, with Jack Dylan Grazer’s ultra-fanboy Freddy Freeman being – FINAL SPOILER WARNING – visited by his all-time favourite hero, Superman, in the school cafeteria. Except, you don’t see Kal-El’s face – it’s a neck-down shot, showing Freddy’s utter shock at coming into contact with his idol. It’s a sweet moment, a great sight gag, and a neat additional tie into the existing DCEU. But if you were wondering whether Henry Cavill was originally set to show his face, you’d be right.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, Shazam! producer Peter Safran stated scheduling issues as the reason why Cavill didn’t appear, and claimed that the cameo was originally set to involve dialogue from the Man Of Steel. “At one point, we'd hoped it was going to be Cavill doing it, but unfortunately his schedule didn't allow him to do it,” he explained. “We still wanted to do it anyway, and it turned out to be better, because it let us do a hard cut on Freddy's reaction, because if we had Cavill there, we'd actually written lines, they had a dialogue, but then it's a little bit of a hat on hat, because really what it's about is Freddy's reaction, so we got to get out on that.”
The faceless cameo comes months after reports that Cavill was quietly stepping away from the DCEU, wrapping up his on-screen run as Superman. Cavill responded to the reports with a hilariously weird Instagram video, while Warner Bros. made the following statement: “We have a great relationship and great respect for Henry Cavill that continues to remain unchanged. Additionally we have made no current decisions regarding any upcoming Superman films.”
Shazam! is in UK cinemas now.
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