**Spoilers ahead for the very last scene in “Shazam”**
If you remember all the drama from last year involving Superman actor Henry Cavill and Warner Bros., then you probably remember that the idea that the actor was done with the role and perhaps WB would have to recast the character stemmed from a potential appearance in “Shazam.” Well, now that the film is finally released and fans have seen it, we can talk about that situation in a bit more detail because it appears that a lot of those rumors turned out to be true. That is, unless you believe the story from “Shazam” producer Peter Safran.
Speaking to Comicbook.com, Safran talked about the Superman cameo at the end of “Shazam” and how it was originally intended to have Cavill suit up as the hero. Instead, due to the actor’s “schedule,” the scene had to be re-imagined and instead, you’re left with a scene where Freddie is sitting at the lunch table and you just see a headless Superman walk into frame. It’s odd and feels incomplete…you know, as if the director had to shoot around the fact that Cavill wasn’t there.
However, Safran says the scene actually turned out better than they originally were hoping.
“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,” Safran said. “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.”
Clearly, fans are only getting part of the story here. Back in 2018, it was reported that Cavill wanted more money than WB was willing to give him for an appearance in the film, so he opted out. That led to reports that the studio was changing course and Superman would take a backseat in the universe moving forward.
READ MORE: ‘Shazam!’ Is A Playful & Vibrant Star-Making Machine For Zachary Levi [Review]
In practical terms, what you’re left with is a Cavill-less Superman appearance that feels strange and doesn’t have the same effect as it would have if the actual actor shows up in the film. And of course, since Safran has to be happy with the final product and promote the hell out of it, he will say whatever he can to make it sound okay.
Ultimately, the scene is just a few seconds of an overall enjoyable flick, so it’s not some monumental disaster. However, it’s fair to say that Cavill.’s presence was missed.