Henry Cavill’s villainous gig opposite Tom Cruise resembles the bid bad of the MCU in terms of motivations.

While it can’t be said if the rumors surrounding Henry Cavill’s potential full-fledged MCU future have some weight or not, interestingly, one of his most impressive roles had some notable parallels with the MCU’s big bad. Although Cavill’s career in the 2010s was confined to fictional heroes, even if his Clark Kent wasn’t exactly as jovial as the past iterations, one of his best acting feats arrived on the opposite spectrum.

Henry Cavill as August Walker | Credit: Paramount

Despite starring opposite the definitive movie star of our era, Cavill ensured his presence was felt throughout Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and his motivations in the film starkly resemble that of Thanos.

Avengers: Infinity War | Credit: Marvel Studios

In his own twisted perspective, Thanos saw himself as a benevolent figure, who was convinced he was saving the universe by erasing half of life from existence., especially after witnessing Titan’s fate. Similar to the Mad Titan, August Walker, aka John Lark, who was mistreated by his own government, was convinced that a global catastrophe was the lone way to save the world from itself, claiming that it’d unite other nations to fight one crisis.

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In addition to that, Cavill stature’s as the definitive good guy on the silver screen made his Fallout gig all the more impressive, and set a new bar for the franchise, which is a testament to Mission: Impossible‘s longevity.

Safety standards need to be met – Unless it’s Tom Cruise

Mission: Impossible – Fallout | Credit: Paramount
Amidst all the strengths that make the franchise great, in pop culture, the Mission: Impossible series is largely synonymous with daring stunts, which is pretty par for the course in a Tom Cruise-driven franchise. But even though the Top Gun star doesn’t concern himself with the risk of it all, whether it’s climbing the Burj Khalifa or jumping over a cliff with his motorcycle, he does take safety checks seriously when it comes to his co-stars.

Henry Cavill, who rejoiced to partake in most of his stunts for Fallout and even witnessed Cruise’s resilience in the face of a broken ankle on set, was ultimately denied from performing a HALO jump. Elaborating on it, Cavill added that the Top Gun star’s reasoning behind it had to do with safety concerns, as HALO jumps often require months of preparation in advance (via USA TODAY).

The day came and I was begging Tom: ‘I’m wearing a parachute, I’ve got some wind tunnel [training], surely I can just jump?’ And he said, ‘Henry, I know exactly how you feel. I get it, you’ve done every single stunt in the movie so far, but this one I can’t let you do. It needs specific training.’

While Cavill was understandably bummed by the whole ordeal, he did come to respect Cruise’s reasoning by the end.