Henry Cavill Officially Pays Tribute to His Brutal Mission: Impossible Villain in New Release

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Published Nov 11, 2026, 7:15 PM EST

Chris is a Senior News Writer for Collider. He can be found in an IMAX screen, with his eyes watering and his ears bleeding for his own pleasure. He joined the news team in 2022 and accidentally fell upwards into a senior position despite his best efforts.

For reasons unknown, he enjoys analyzing box office receipts, giant sharks, and has become known as the go-to man for all things Bosch, Mission: Impossible and Christopher Nolan in Collider's news division. Recently, he found himself yeehawing along to the Dutton saga on the Yellowstone Ranch.

He is proficient in sarcasm, wit, Photoshop and working unfeasibly long hours. Amongst his passions sit the likes of the history of the Walt Disney Company, the construction of theme parks, steam trains and binge-watching Gilmore Girls with a coffee that is just hot enough to scald him.

His obsession with the Apple TV+ series Silo is the subject of mockery within the Senior News channel, where his feelings about Taylor Sheridan's work are enough to make his fellow writers roll their eyes.

There are plenty of memorable moments from Henry Cavill's time as Superman, but of course, people tend to focus on the things that went wrong. Back in 2017, the actor found himself at the center of one of Hollywood's strangest visual controversies when a digital makeover ended up ruining his face.

Cavill's mustache proved particularly problematic during the shooting of Justice League. Grown for his role in Mission: Impossible — Fallout, it caused huge continuity errors for the filming of the Man of Steel sequel reshoots, and caused an inordinately large fuss. Almost a decade later, Cavill has apparently decided that enough time has passed to have some fun with the whole thing himself.

Cavill has brought back his infamous Mission: Impossible mustache for a new Google ad, nine years after it became one of the most widely mocked elements of Justice League. The actor appears in a new video promoting Google's software tools, complete with the mustache and his equally famous arm-reloading gesture from Fallout.

In the video, Cavill uses Google's Antigravity to help create a self-avatar video game character, and as you'd expect, he has some very specific ideas about what his digital counterpart should be capable of doing. Alongside additional muscle, an increasingly impressive mustache, and a collection of useful pockets, Cavill requests that his character receive special power-ups whenever he performs the signature arm reload that became a viral sensation. The new ad follows an earlier collaboration with Google called Mustache Protocol, which featured Cavill confronting a fictional rogue CGI artist attempting to remove mustaches from around the world. In the ad, he states: "As you all know, I love a good mustache."

Why Was Henry Cavill's Mustache Such a Big Problem for 'Justice League'?

The controversy began during the troubled production of 2017's Justice League, when Cavill had to come back for more shooting when director Zack Snyder departed the project and Joss Whedon took over. Unfortunately, Cavill was working on Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible – Fallout, at the time, as the rogue operative August Walker opposite Tom Cruise. Because the facial hair was part of his appearance in the Mission: Impossible sequel, Cavill couldn't simply shave it off to reprise his clean-shaven Superman. Instead, they tried to use CGI and it did not go well.

The film starred big Hank as Clark Kent/Superman, Ben Affleck (Gone Girl) as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa (Aquaman) as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Ezra Miller (The Flash) as Barry Allen/The Flash, and Ray Fisher (Rebel Moon) as Victor Stone/Cyborg. Cavill's mustache, meanwhile, enjoyed a much more successful reception in Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

Justice League and Mission: Impossible – Fallout are available to rent or purchase digitally on PVOD. Cavill's new Google promotional video is available online. Stay tuned to Collider for all the latest news and updates on the biggest and best movies and shows heading to your favorite streaming platforms soon.