Henry Cavill is one of the most unfortunate major actors working in Hollywood today, with far too many projects in his name doing his likeness dirty in new, creative ways over and over again. First gaining notoriety for his role as Clark Kent and Superman in the films of the DCEU, the British actor quickly became a cinematic icon in the 2010s due to his chiseled good looks, warm charisma, and shockingly excellent physique. Sadly, due to no fault of his own, Henry Cavill has been done dirty time and time again by franchises that have benefitted from his talents.

Over the course of his career, Henry Cavill’s grateful approach to his roles and public pᴀssion for nerdier topics surprising for a man of his stature, including The Witcher video game series and Warhammer 40,000, endeared him further to a dedicated fanbase. Yet time after time, Cavill’s characters were cast aside, killed off, or recast entirely, with many of his films and TV projects wasting a star of his caliber. Few major celebrity actors have had as rotten luck as Cavill has had, and the Superman actor deserved better than what he got every time.

5

The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare Was Underappreciated

Despite Cavill’s Stand-Out Leading Role

When Henry Cavill’s roles weren’t stolen out from under him and his ongoing projects didn’t crumble away, his efforts have often gone unfairly overlooked in the wider pop culture zeitgeist. Perhaps his most underrated film remains the spy thriller The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare, a period film set in World War II following a plucky group of spies at sea who use unconventional tactics to clear the waters of Nazi Germany’s U-Boat submarines. Cavill stars as Gus March-Phillipps, the real integral founder of Britain’s Small Scale Raiding Force, which would later evolve into the Special Air Service commando unit.

As the real-life inspiration behind novelist Ian Fleming’s famous James Bond, Cavill’s time as Gus March-Phillipps easily draws comparisons to the famous movie super spy, inviting many to imagine the studly English actor as the next 007. Sadly, The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare was a box office disaster, making a measly 30 million dollars against a budget easily twice that. This is a crying shame considering just how much fun Cavill is to watch as an espionage lead, leaving the film as one of the most bitterly underrated blockbusters of the 2020s so far.

4

The Superman Non-Return

Not To Mention The Result Of His Turbulent Tenure As The Man Of Steel

Despite being his breakout role, Henry Cavill’s time as Superman was nothing if not fraught with terrible circumstances beyond his control. Doing his best to contend with Zack Snyder’s bizarre characterization of Superman as a biblical savior figure with none of the lovable down-to-Earth personality of previous versions, Cavill did the absolute best in the DCEU with what he was given. That’s not even to mention having to endure his likeness being turned into rubbery CGI action figures during fight scenes or having his Mission Impossible – Fallout mustache infamously scrubbed out of Justice League.

Perhaps the biggest insult of Henry Cavill’s reign as the Man of Steel came as the floundering DCEU was sputtering to an unworthy end, losing big on box office flop after box office flop. The ending of Black Adam saw Cavill don the blue тιԍнтs and red cape once more to promise a future showdown with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s тιтular anti-hero, poising two of DC’s strongest characters against one another. This tease would go on to never pay off as the DCEU was quietly dismantled, forking over the rights to James Gunn, who promptly recast Superman with David Corenswet.

3

The Man From UNCLE Could Have Become A Franchise

And Was Easily Set-Up To Do So

Superman and the DCU is far from the only time Henry Cavill has missed out on piloting a big franchise, or at least had the opportunity robbed out from under him to no fault of his own. Shortly after his debut as the famous hero, Cavill picked up his career with yet another spy movie to line his filmography, 2015’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Based on the 60s television series of the same name, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. stars Cavill as CIA agent and legacy hero Napoleon Solo.

The plot sees Cavill as Solo take on a mysterious criminal organization that’s somehow gotten a hold of nukes alongside a KGB agent. Despite the тιтle, the film is actually something of an origin story for the actual U.N.C.L.E. spy network that drove the action of the series, ending on the organization’s official creation with Solo as a foundational member. Clearly poised to kickstart a franchise, the film’s modest box office performance and lack of enthusiasm from studio executives left a sequel still out of reach after a decade, despite Cavill’s enthusiasm to return.

2

The Disappointing Exit From Netflix’s The Witcher

Punished Cavill For Caring About The IP

It’s clear that Henry Cavill is someone with a clear enthusiasm for fantasy storytelling, as demonstrated by his very public pᴀssion for The Witcher series of games and novels. Cast in something of a dream role as Geralt of Rivia, the mutant monster hunter of the games’ strange fantasy universe, Cavill’s enthusiasm for the Netflix adaptation of the franchise was easy to see in both his performance and press circuit. However, it seems as though this enthusiasm actually placed a target on his back when it came to his long-term relationship with the showrunners.

Allegedly, Henry Cavill’s pᴀssion for the original stories and games resulted in multiple creative differences with The Witcher adaptation, with Cavill possibly being critical of the series’ radical departure from the established lore of the games and books. This difference in vision was apparently dramatic enough to result in Cavill’s expulsion from the series, with the British star insisting too intently on going in a different direction than the showrunners were interested in. As a result, Geralt has been recast with Liam Hemsworth for the upcoming fourth season of the show, punishing Cavill for insisting on a faithful adaptation.

1

Argylle Wasted His Talents With A Bizarre Twist

Souring What Could Have Been A Fun Spy Romp

At this point, Henry Cavill needs to stay far away from spy movies, since his career simply can’t catch a break any time he tries to star in one. One of the most infamous box office flops in a year that also brought audiences Madame Web was Argylle, a seemingly original action comedy about an espionage writer whose work eerily predicts the real world, leading to her being swept up in a dangerous high-stakes adventure that smears the borders of fiction and reality. Cavill stars as the тιтular secret agent.

Argylle represents yet another spy movie box office disaster in Cavill’s career, not even clearing half of its weighty 200 million dollar budget. Poor word-of-mouth centering on the film’s bizarre status as a secret sequel to the Kingsman series could largely be to blame, but even vocal detractors still laud Argylle himself as the film’s diamond-in-the-rough. If anything, Henry Cavill deserved better than Argylle for the haircut it gave him alone.