Henry Cavill finally reveals the origins behind his iconic 'arm reloading' scene in Mission: Impossible

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The Superman actor has his reasons

Henry Cavill in Mission: Impossible - Fallout
(Image credit: Paramount)

Henry Cavill has revealed the surprisingly practical reasons behind his most iconic scene in Mission: Impossible.

Tom Cruise is the star of the show in Mission: Impossible but, for a brief moment, he was overshadowed in 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout by Henry Cavill’s August Walker and his ‘reloading’ arms during one fight scene.

"Everything starts to get quite sore after a while, because it’s a lot of repetitive motion. And the connective tendons in my biceps were getting sore, so I had to warm them up before I threw punches. I would literally do that to warm them up," Cavill explained.

He continued, "I did it once, and I thought ‘oh, god that probably looked really stupid’… And I said, ‘oh sorry [to director Christopher McQuarrie], I’ll do that again.’ And he’s like, ‘do what?... And then I did another take without doing it, and he’s like, ‘why didn’t you do that thing? That was really good.’ And I was like, ‘that was good?’ And he said, ‘yes! Definitely do that.’ And we did."

Mission: Impossible is returning – without any arms being reloaded, we expect – for an upcoming two-parter. Dead Reckoning Part One will release on July 14, 2023 with Part Two to follow on June 28, 2024.

Bradley Russell
Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.