4. Henry Cavill
Despite the mixed reviews that Man of Steel received this summer, no one can deny that the film got one thing absolutely right: the casting of a relatively-unkown British actor named Henry Cavill as Superman himself. He brilliantly embodied everything we love about Superman, while giving the character a fresh, new spin that it so desperately needed. He will be reprising the role in 2015 alongside Ben Affleck in Batman Vs. Superman, and will star in Guy Ritchie's The Man From U.N.C.L.E., in 2014. Cavill's first movie role was in the 2002 adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, where he held his own against Guy Pearce and James Caviezel. He then appeared in a handful of TV series before minor movie roles in Hellraiser: Hellworld, Tristan & Isolde, and Stardust. From 2007-2010, he had a leading role in Showtime's series, The Tudors as Charles Brandon. He was set to play Superman in
Superman: Flyby (which was written by JJ Abrams), but that fell apart and eventually he was replaced with Brandon Routh for Superman Returns. He was also up for the role of James Bond, against Daniel Craig, before producers decided to go for an older Bond. Reports also claim that he was a contender for Batman in Batman Begins, and, interestingly, lost two roles to Robert Pattinson. He was nearly cast as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Twilight creator Stephenie Meyer desperately wanted him to play Edward Cullen. Thankfully, he was too old for those parts and eventually got the chance to play Superman after all.