Whenever a superhero movie is being worked on by a major motion picture studio, the casting process is always one of the most crucial parts. As there have been an endless amount of superhero films in the last 20 years alone, multiple actors have been trying to get their shot at playing some of these iconic characters. When it comes to Superman, there have been many attempts at reviving the franchise after the Christopher Reeve era.
While Henry Cavill currently portrays the DCEU version of the Man of Steel, there have been other iterations that Warner Bros. tried to make happen. Prior to the 2013 film and even Superman Returns, there are stories on various Superman projects that the studio tried to make with several actors trying out for the role. However, some of those actors have ended up playing other iconic DC characters instead, both on the big and small screen.
10 Daniel Cudmore
Best known for his role in the X-Men films as Colossus, Daniel Cudmore has tried out for two Superman films that ended up casting other actors in the titular role. In an interview with Newsarama, Cudmore revealed that he had tried out for both Superman Returns and Man of Steel. The two respective projects ended up casting Brandon Routh and Cavill respectively.
However, aside from his X-Men role, Cudmore has had a presence in the Arrowverse, the biggest DC TV franchise of all time. On Arrow, he played the DC villain Jackhammer while on The Flash, he played the minor foe Gridlock.
9 Will Smith
In some cases, there have been actors that studios wanted to see as Superman that ended up not doing it simply because they rejected the offer. One of them was Will Smith who was offered the leading role in Superman Returns but ended up passing on it.
However, Smith would later get to play a DC character, but a villain instead as he got cast in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. In the 2016 film, Smith played Floyd Lawton a.k.a. Deadshot who was one of the leading members of Task Force X.
8 Matt Bomer
While Matt Bomer got to voice Superman in Superman: Unbound, the actor almost got to portray the part in live-action. Bomer was one of the actors that were eyed for Man of Steel before Cavill landed the part.
Despite not landing the DCEU role, Bomer gets to voice the last son of Krypton in the animated film years later. However, Bomer was given a major DC role as he is playing Larry Trainor a.k.a. Negative Man in Doom Patrol.
7 David Boreanaz
Best known for his roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Bones, David Boreanaz was almost given a chance to play the Man of Tomorrow.
Before it became Superman Returns, Boreanaz had read for the role of J.J. Abrams’ Superman: Flyby, but due to his Angel schedule, he had to pass on the opportunity. However, he did end up voicing Hal Jordan a.k.a. Green Lantern in the well-received animated film Justice League: The New Frontier.
6 Jensen Ackles
When it came to Smallville, Tom Welling was the actor to ultimately end up playing Clark Kent before becoming the iconic superhero. While Jensen Ackles ended up appearing as Jason Teague in season 4, he actually was close to being cast as Clark before Welling landed the gig.
Now known best for Supernatural, one of the longest-running sci-fi/fantasy shows of all time, Ackles has gotten a taste of the DC Universe in animation. In 2010, Ackles voiced Jason Todd a.k.a. Red Hood in Batman: Under the Red Hood that remains one of the strongest DC animated films today.
5 Milo Ventimiglia
Best known for his roles on Gilmore Girls and This is Us, Milo Ventimiglia had tried out for Smallville. However, just with Ackles, he lost out to Welling being cast as the young Man of Steel.
Instead, years later, Ventimiglia ended up playing a minor Batman villain named The Ogre in the first season of Gotham.
4 Joe Manganiello
Though Cavill was cast in Man of Steel, Joe Manganiello almost was the film’s leading man. While almost landing the iconic role, it was the actor’s True Blood commitment that prevented him to do the film at the same time as the show was filming. Even though he didn’t get to play the iconic hero, Manganiello did end up getting cast as one of DC’s biggest villains.
Zack Snyder cast him as Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke in Justice League (with the Snyder Cut coming to HBO Max next year) who appears in the post-credits scene. While it’s unclear what the DCEU plans are for his Deathstroke, whether his solo film happens or not, at least Manganiello did end up joining the DC Universe.
3 D.J. Cotrona
While many actors were eyed or close to booking the role of Superman, D.J. Cotrona is a rare example as he was actually cast as the iconic DC hero. When Warner Bros. was working with director George Miller to bring Justice League: Mortal to the big-screen, Cotrona had been cast as Superman. There have even been images released what he would have looked like in his costume.
But the project was shelved as they were getting ready to film. However, Cotrona got another chance at joining the DCEU when he was cast as the grown-up superhero version of Pedro in Shazam! as part of the Shazam Family.
2 Brendan Fraser
For Superman: Flyby, Brendan Fraser has talked about auditioning for the leading role when the film was in the works back in 2002. In 2019, the actor spoke about getting to try out for the character as well as trying on the costume.
Even though he didn’t go to play the Man of Steel, Fraser ended up going the same route as Bomer. Currently, Fraser is portraying Cliff Steele a.k.a. Robotman on Doom Patrol as he is one of the show’s funniest characters.
1 Christian Bale
While the world knows Christian Bale as one of the most popular versions of Batman, the actor was at one point eyed to play Superman. Back when they were developing a Batman vs Superman movie with director Wolfgang Petersen, they had a list of people they wanted for the two DC roles. When it came to Superman, Petersen revealed in an MTV interview that he had met with Bale as he was being considered.
Even though it never happened, Bale went on to play the Caped Crusader in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. It was the better choice for Bale as his version of Batman became one of the most well-received interpretations of the hero on the big screen.
