In 2013, Henry Cavill became the latest actor to take up the mantle of Superman in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. But it was during his audition that Cavill truly embodied the iconic superhero, thanks in no small part to a special piece of cinematic history—the suit worn by Christopher Reeve in the original Superman films..

Director Zack Snyder recently shared a nostalgic moment from Cavill’s audition on Vero, posting a simple photo of the actor wearing the same suit that Reeve made famous. “First test with Henry… I knew right away he was my Superman,” Snyder wrote.

In an interview with Dejour back in 2016, Snyder explained that when Cavill auditioned for the role, they hadn’t yet crafted a new suit for him. So they turned to a classic. “We didn’t have the suit made when Henry was auditioning, so he wore the original Christopher Reeve suit,” Snyder said. “He put it on and when he came out of the trailer, everyone was like, ‘Dang, you’re Superman!’”

Cavill himself reflected on the experience in a 2011 interview with Total Film, describing the surreal moment he first donned the suit. “It’s extremely cool. There’s no other feeling like it,” Cavill recalled. “They just put it on, I turned around and looked in the mirror and you can’t really play it cool — you sort of guffaw and laugh. I thought, ‘OK, holy hell, this is real, it’s not a joke anymore. This is it … you’re doing it, you’re right in the middle of it.’”

That moment in Christopher Reeve’s legendary suit not only solidified Cavill’s transformation into the Man of Steel but also forged a connection to the character’s cinematic legacy, bridging the past with a new generation of Superman fans.