Henry Cavill Has A Gigantic, Monster Sized Dog Named After Superman

Henry Cavill is a massive superhero movie star. And because of that, he also has a massive dog with a superhero name to boot.

By Doug Norrie | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Superman Man of Steel

I’m not exactly sure where Henry Cavill sits in the pantheon of Superman roles that have come across the screen over the decades. And it’s not even clear what his future in the role holds. There’s some chance we’ve seen the last of him in the red cape. But even if Henry Cavill never ends up playing Superman again, it looks like the character will always be in his general vicinity. That’s because Cavill has a massive pet dog named Kal who, if Instagram can be believed, is at the center of his life. 

On his Instagram page, Henry Cavill shares a fair amount about his life and projects he’s working on. But there’s another prominent figure that makes more than a few appearances. That would be his prized American Akita Kal who might just also be the dude’s best friend. Check out some of what he’s shared with his dog over the short-term. 

American Akitas are massive dogs that can weigh up to 80 pounds at their biggest. They also can stand a couple of feet tall as well. Look, if you’re playing Superman I don’t think you can walk around with a little chihuahua in a carry-all bag. It’s important that an iconic superhero who is literally indestructible also have a pet that looks like it could eat a small child if it really needed to. And that’s the case with Henry Cavill who also just happened to name the dog after Superman’s original, Kryptonian name, Kal-El. 

According to his Instagram postings, Henry Cavill has had Kal since he was 10 weeks old and is clearly one of the most important parts of his life. The actor has posted about how though the dog is massive in size and it incredibly strong, he also exhibits some other Superman qualities. Namely, he’s kind and soft-spoken (in dog parlance), converting people to dog lovers just by spending some time around him. 

Though Henry Cavill has Kal in his life, it’s unclear what the future holds for the actor actually playing Superman in the DC Extended Universe. Following the relative success of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, there was some feeling that Cavill will stick in the role for the future. But with DC developing a new Superman character under the eye of JJ Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates, there’s also a clear distancing from Cavill on the part of the studio. It’s not certain what happens next with Superman. 

In the meantime, Henry Cavill has a couple of other projects/ franchises in the works that have him as busy as ever. He’s just completed filming for the second season of Netflix’s The Witcher which proved one of the streaming platform’s more popular offerings when it first hit last year. Plus there’s talk that he could expand his Sherlock Holmes role in an upcoming Enola Holmes sequel. 

So there’s plenty of non-Superman-related stuff going on for Henry Cavill. The dude is nothing if not busy. And he also has a superhero-sized dog to remind him always of the character even if it is in name only.