Watching Henry Cavill fly off into the stratosphere in the first trailer for Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel gives me an odd sense of satisfaction. What would you call it? Schadenfreude? It’s that lovely little feeling you get when you delight in the misfortune of others. And while there’s no misfortune to be had on Henry’s end, there’s sure to be endless rivers of tears and regret for the casting directors who passed on him time and time again.

Formerly dubbed the “Unluckiest Man in Hollywood” by Empire Magazine, Henry used to be notorious for near misses when it comes to high profile roles. Here’s a rundown of our favorite lost roles and all we can say after is, “Thank God they gave him this one!”

THREE: JAMES BOND in CASINO ROYALE

As much as we love Henry in the blue tights, there’s no doubt he would have looked just as fine in a well-fitted tux.

Running head to head with final contenders Sam Worthington and Daniel Craig, Henry actually went as far as to be screen-tested for his license to kill, but the big men upstairs thought he was too young for the role. Instead of continuing 007′s brunette legacy, we got ourselves a blond Bond.

Then again, who can really fault that call?

Silver lining on this raincloud? Bond has a great track record for coming back to the ‘too young to play Bond’ ones. Back before Timothy Dalton shook and not stirred the world in The Living Daylights, a younger Pierce Brosnan screen-tested for the same role in competition. He lost out and we got two films out of Timonthy, but when he bowed out, Pierce was the number one choice to carry on for Queen and country.

According to Casino Royale director Martin Campbell, the same thing might happen to Henry when Daniel Craig decides to hang up his Armani suit.

TWO: HAL JORDAN/GREEN LANTERN in GREEN LANTERN

Henry seems to attract tights of all shapes and sizes, doesn’t he? Either that or Martin Campbell must really have a thing for him.

Had things gone a little differently, we would have seen him in the brightest day or the blackest night with no evil escaping his sight. Shortlisted for Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern, he was running against dudes like Bradley Cooper and the eventual winner of the rat race Ryan Reynolds.

For this one, we take a deep sigh and thank the heavens he didn’t get the role because that would have hurt his career far worse than Immortals.

ONE: CLARK KENT/SUPERMAN in SUPERMAN RETURNS

The long road to Krypton started out when Henry Cavill was actually cast to play Kal-El and his human alterego in what would have been McG’s reboot of the Superman franchise.

Ready and riled up to run faster than a speeding bullet, things only turned sour when McG pulled out of the project and new director Bryan Singer decided to recast the role with an unknown, aka Brandon Routh.

I guess you could say that the powers that be are now correcting this mistake.—DEXYLEBOWSKI