That 'Black Adam' Secret Cameo Wasn’t Always in the Cards

Before we start...

Spoilers ahead!

Black Adamtreated fans with a last-minute jolt thanks to a post-credit scene.

The scene brought Henry Cavill back to the role of Superman. 

It has been up for debate whether or not Cavill would return as the superhero after his last appearance in Justice League. The negotiation process for Cavill’s post-credit cameo was a hard-fought battle that came together at the last minute, but the Black Adam team had faith it would work. 

Cinematographer Lawrence Sher recalls the nailbiting process on The Hollywood Reporter’s Behind the Screen podcast, saying “If we can get Henry to be in it, then we’ll figure that out on a future date.” The DP was told about the Superman cameo very late in production, causing a bit of a storm on set. 

Sher recalls director Jaume Collet-Serra saying that he wanted to take the throne room set that they were working in and rearrange it to look like a new set for Dwayne Johnson to walk into, and “we’re going to shoot it in like 10 minutes.”

The scene was shot on the final day of additional photography with Johnson’s half of the scene being acted against no one since the team didn’t know if they could get Cavill to return to the role. The backup plan for the scene was to never show the actor’s face, only the Superman emblem on his chest. 

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’ Superman(1978) theme they found on Google. 

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

The test screening for Black Adam included the post-credit scene with Superman’s head missing from the shot. The audience’s reactions to the scene were reasonable and feverish to see Cavill back in the iconic role. 

'Man of Steel'Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Johnson publicly advocated for Black Adam to go head-to-head with Superman in a later movie, and his words had fans excited to see Henry Cavill return as the hero. 

Although Walter Hamada had nixed the idea to include Superman in Black Adam, hoping to introduce a new Superman to DC with a multidecade-spanning story written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Johnson went around the executive, turning to new Warner Bros. film bosses Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who gave him the green light. 

The cameo was shot in mid-September once Cavill was available to shoot in London. Sher worked with Cavill remotely. “There are certain people that are iconic as the characters that they play, and he’s really one of them,” Sher said.

What did you think about the Superman cameo in Black Adam? Let us know in the comments! 

Source: The Hollywood Reporter