Zack Snyder Reveals That Joe Manganiello Was Almost Cast As Superman

The recent news that Joe Manganiello will play Deathstroke in Ben Affleck’s Batman movie has sent many fans into a frenzy. However, not many people know that Zack Snyder once considered the actor for Superman (a part which eventually went to Henry Cavill).

In 2011, Zack Snyder told MTV News that Joe Manganiello was very close to landing the role of Superman in Man of Steel. It seems he was Snyder’s second choice:

Henry’s just … I love Joe too, by the way. Really he was the only other guy I was thinking of, to be honest, other than Henry. But in the end, I think Henry just has this innocence too [in addition to the look and physicality required for the role], he has both, which is tricky. Superman needs the teeniest bit of that. Not to be overt, but you like it to be there ever so slightly. I mean, he grew up in Kansas, that’s just true, so you need a little of that [innocence].”

In an alternate universe somewhere, I’m sure there is a Joe Manganiello Superman movie. What he is like in the blue tights and the red cape, we’ll never really know.