Page 88 - Men’s Health - USA (December 2019)

ALL THE Men of Steel on display

at House of Secrets—a comic-book

store in Burbank with red-and-blue

renditions of Superman dotting the
ceiling, the walls, and even the fl oor—

none are as striking, or as symboli-

cally fraught, as the one staring down at Henry Cavill.
The actor is standing under a glowering, arms-folded

miniature sculpture of Supes on a bookshelf, right

next to a similarly intimidating bust of Batman. The

two crime fi ghters battled it out in 2016’s aggressively

hyped Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, one of
three fi lms for which Cavill donned Superman’s cape.

It grossed $873 million worldwide and is the biggest

box-offi ce hit of Cavill’s career.

It’s also one of the most castigated mile-wide shoulders—and the equally
superhero blockbusters of all time—a fi lm towering, semi-incognito bodyguard
to be debated on Reddit forums and con- trailing him—a few start staring at one
vention fl oors for years, or at least until another with furrow-browed disbelief:
the next Batman/Superman team-up. Wait, is that dude . . . Superman?
When Cavill looks up and notices the trou- As the six-foot-two, roughly 200-pound
bled big-screen rivals standing near each Cavill wanders around, he points out
other, he pauses, a muted smile fl ickering some of his favorite Superman story
across his face. “Oh, well,” he declares lines—Savage Dawn, H’el on Earth—
wryly before moving on down the aisle. It’s and gushes over the work of novelist
an early-fall afternoon, and the 36-year- Aaron Dembski-Bowden. (“It’s not high
old Cavill has dropped by House of Secrets sci-fi ,” he enthuses, “but it’s deep sci-fi .”)
to pick up some reading material for the I steer him toward writer Alan Moore’s
fl ight home to London. It’s his fi rst visit brain-pulping early-’80s run on Swamp
to the beloved store, which might be the Thing. It’s a psychotropic tale of existen-
most Superman-centric location in the tial mutation that would likely make for a
entire Los Angeles area. The offi ces of DC nervy bit of in-fl ight reading. But it seems
Comics are a quick drive from here, as are like a good fit for an actor who’s under-
the headquarters of Warner Bros., the gone his own on- and off screen metamor-
studio responsible for Cavill’s Krypton phosis over the past several years. with smaller, less CGI-intensive eff orts.
triptych: Man of Steel (2013), Batman v When the British-born Cavill began his Cavill, though, is unabashedly dedicated
Superman, and Justice League (2017). career in the early ’00s, he was slotted in to the sorts of fi lms that necessitate huge
This is the last place you’d expect to fi nd supporting roles, often as naïf, lovestruck budgets, months of physical training,
him milling about, only because it’s young men. But ever since he signed on to and mammoth Comic-Con rollouts. He
almost too obvious a hideaway. play Superman—a part that required him was a double-crossing dandy in 2015’s
But here he is, cruising the store in a to bulk up and become an IRL version of late-night cable classic The Man from
black V-neck shirt and light-blue jeans, his the world’s strongest do-gooder—Cavill U.N.C.L.E. and a triple-crossing baddie
Kansas City Chiefs cap pulled down low. has steadily transformed himself into in last year’s giddily ridiculous Mission: Styling: Ted Stafford. Set design: Abraham Latham/Art Dept. Hair: Jacqueline Rathore using
The getup is a valiant stab at anonymity, the kind of leading man the major studios Impossible—Fallout. This month, he
but it fails immediately. “Henry carries now crave: a pure franchise player, one plays the long-haired, evil-eyed medieval-
himself with a lovely sense of authority whose dimple-chinned dashingness times outcast warrior Geralt on The Davines. Makeup: Ailbhe Lemass. Production: Crawford & Co.
and confidence,” notes Lauren Schmidt and carefully engineered physique Witcher, based on the best-selling book
Hissrich, the producer of his new Netfl ix can be plugged into all manner of big- series. “I like that realm,” he says of
fantasy series, The Witcher. “He doesn’t brand properties. both The Witcher and the larger fantasy-
blend in very easily.” Indeed, once the half Other superstars of his generation, and-fandom culture it represents. “These
dozen or so customers get a look at the guy like three of the four guys named Chris, characters matter a lot to people, and
with the bumper-plate pecs and three- tend to balance out their mega movies they matter a lot to me.”

90 December 2019 / MEN’S HEALTH