By Andy Chalk

Copyright pcgamer

Skip to main content

Close main menu

THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES

View Profile

Search PC Gamer

PC Gaming Show

Movies & TV

Affiliate links

Meet the team

Community guidelines

About PC Gamer

PC Gamer Magazine Subscription

Why subscribe?

Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming mag
Try a single issue or save on a subscription
Issues delivered straight to your door or device

From£35.99Subscribe now

PC Gaming Show Tokyo
Essential Hardware

Battlefield 6

Don’t miss these

One of Warhammer’s oldest discontinued armies has finally returned—but to a different universe

Gaming Industry
‘These works are vital for the morale of our people,’ co-owner of Ukrainian publishing house declares after Games Workshop ends deal to translate Warhammer novels

D&D is quintessentially American and Warhammer is quintessentially British

The Witcher
Netflix released another Witcher teaser showing off Liam Hemsworth as Geralt, and I gotta say I was pleasantly surprised

How much do you know about the universe of Warhammer 40,000? Put your faith in the Emperor to the test with our latest quiz

For just $16 you can get a little Warhammer 40k JoyToy action figure to guard your PC gaming desk this Prime Day

Elden Ring movie director spun up a 160-page script to convince the devs he should be the one to make it

Movies & TV
A casting call for the Mass Effect TV show is out there, and if you’re ‘A young Colin Farrell-type male’, then do I have great news for you

Movies & TV
Karl Urban has no powers in the first trailer for Mortal Kombat 2, he’s ‘just incredibly handsome’

The Witcher
Witcher creator Andrzej Sapkowski gets gold Polish culture medal, accepts it with face like he’s just had his Switch 2 pre-order cancelled

Owlcat is ‘redoing everything from scratch’ in Dark Heresy, its next Warhammer 40,000 CRPG, which is the best thing I’ve heard about it so far

Every Warhammer 40,000 game, ranked

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 gets a horde mode, and one class gets a thunder hammer because the devs thought ‘it will be very cool’

After a tease drove fans mad, Cyberpunk 2077 sheepishly warns that tomorrow’s news will be quite boring, actually

Elijah Wood reveals his favorite videogames and the chill indies he’s playing now on Steam Deck

Movies & TV

Henry Cavill’s new photos on Instagram probably aren’t teasing anything about his new Warhammer 40,000 cinematic universe—but they might be

Andy Chalk

22 September 2025

Henry Cavill busted up his leg while training for the Highlander reboot, so of course he’s making it about Warhammer.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Henry Cavill (Instagram))

Henry Cavill busted up his leg real good earlier this month while training for the Highlander reboot nobody asked for, and in fine fashion he’s using his recovery time to remind us all that he really, really loves Warhammer 40,000.

As is the way in our social media obsessed world, Henry posted a picture of himself, his dog, and his busted-up leg on Instagram over the weekend. Instead of writing, “Wow, look at my busted-up leg,” however, he shared a poem:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

Related Articles

One of Warhammer’s oldest discontinued armies has finally returned—but to a different universe

‘These works are vital for the morale of our people,’ co-owner of Ukrainian publishing house declares after Games Workshop ends deal to translate Warhammer novels

D&D is quintessentially American and Warhammer is quintessentially British

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
He did not write that himself: That’s Invictus, written in 1875 by English poet William Ernest Henley. More on that later, though, because first, clearly visible on the coffee table upon which Henry is resting his leg is a Warhammer: The Horus Heresy rulebook—Liber Hereticus, I’m pretty sure—laid atop several other, presumably also Warhammer books.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
It’s much less distinct but in the other photo you can also see, just above Henry’s head on a shelf in the other room, a copy of the Warhammer 40,000: Leviathan box set.

A post shared by Henry Cavill (@henrycavill)
A photo posted by on
Now, Henry is probably the world’s most famous WH40K nerd, and so it shouldn’t be all that surprising that he’s got lots of WH40K stuff in his house. But IGN sees something possibly deeper: That maybe he’s teasing the backdrop for the Warhammer 40,000 cinematic universe he’s heading up, the setting for which hasn’t been officially revealed yet. (It’s been 40,000 years, there’s a lot to sort through and figure out.)
The Horus Heresy rulebook could possibly point toward a retelling of the foundational historical event of the Warhammer 40,000 setting: The civil war that took place 10,000 years prior to the game’s current era, which essentially set the stage for events as they currently stand.

Related Articles

One of Warhammer’s oldest discontinued armies has finally returned—but to a different universe

‘These works are vital for the morale of our people,’ co-owner of Ukrainian publishing house declares after Games Workshop ends deal to translate Warhammer novels

D&D is quintessentially American and Warhammer is quintessentially British

But that’s complicated and deep, great for committed fans but possibly too dense and arcane for the rest of us. A simpler approach might be hinted at by the Leviathan box set, which features the Ultramarines chapter of the Space Marines, who also happen to be the stars of the very successful (and more mainstream) Space Marine videogame series.
And that brings us back to the poem, which you’ll recall is entitled Invictus. Saul Invictus was the captain of the elite 1st Company of the Ultramarines, until he was killed in the Battle of Macragge during the First Tyranic War. A good role for Henry to play, perhaps?
Perhaps. But now we swerve over to the Poetry Foundation to throw some cold water on the whole thing. Henley, the author of Invictus, had one of his legs amputated just below the knee when he was young, the result of tubercular arthritis; some years later, the other leg was only saved through radical surgical intervention. Henley began writing poems, including Invictus, while recovering from that surgery—basically, the 19th-century equivalent of “Wow, look at my busted-up leg.”
So where does this leave us? Using strategically-placed stuff in the background of photos or livestreams to hint at future goings-on isn’t new—Phil Spencer has a reputation for doing it—but in this case, I don’t think this is a tease so much as a reminder that Henry really, really loves Warhammer 40,000. He talked about it during Covid-19 lockdowns, he talked about it on The Witcher, he talked about it when he was supposed to be hyping extremely expensive watches in Switzerland: The man’s just a fan—a fan who just happens to have a big WH40K thing cooking. Can’t really blame him for being excited about that.
Also, he busted up his leg. But he’s going to be okay.

2025 games: This year’s upcoming releases
Best PC games: Our all-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
Best co-op games: Better together

Social Links Navigation
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

One of Warhammer’s oldest discontinued armies has finally returned—but to a different universe

‘These works are vital for the morale of our people,’ co-owner of Ukrainian publishing house declares after Games Workshop ends deal to translate Warhammer novels

D&D is quintessentially American and Warhammer is quintessentially British

Netflix released another Witcher teaser showing off Liam Hemsworth as Geralt, and I gotta say I was pleasantly surprised

How much do you know about the universe of Warhammer 40,000? Put your faith in the Emperor to the test with our latest quiz

For just $16 you can get a little Warhammer 40k JoyToy action figure to guard your PC gaming desk this Prime Day

Latest in Movies & TV

Critical Role’s new D&D campaign trailer has given me unshakable faith that whatever Brennan Lee Mulligan does with his galaxy brain and 13 players is going to be great

Weapons director says his Resident Evil movie will leave everything ‘intact’ from the games: ‘I’m not gonna steal Leon and put him in an original story’

A casting call for the Mass Effect TV show is out there, and if you’re ‘A young Colin Farrell-type male’, then do I have great news for you

The Sims movie is still happening for some reason, and it’s gonna be ‘somewhere in-between both The Lego Movie and Barbie’

The new Splinter Cell: Deathwatch trailer is action-packed, but there’s a Michael Ironside-shaped hole

Producer says the Bioshock movie is ‘definitely going to be based on the first Bioshock game’

Latest in News

Ready or Not studio fires community manager for saying ‘nothing of value was lost’ following Charlie Kirk’s shooting

Eric Barone says he doesn’t want ‘too much hype’ for Stardew Valley’s 1.7 update, which is a bit like showing the internet a big red button marked DO NOT PRESS

Henry Cavill’s new photos on Instagram probably aren’t teasing anything about his new Warhammer 40,000 cinematic universe—but they might be

Dying Light: The Beast mod nerfs the biggest annoyance in the game: how often zombies grab you

Arc Raiders is opening its doors to everyone in a final ‘Server Slam’ playtest coming in October

You can technically play Doom on a $30 vape and it just needs ‘that last bit of RAM’ to run natively

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES
LATEST GAME REVIEWS

Best SSD for gaming in 2025: the fastest and the best value solid state drives to perk up your PC

Best gaming laptop in 2025: I’ve tested a ton of notebooks this generation and these are the best in every category

Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customizable keyboards for competitive gaming

Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC

Best graphics cards in 2025: I’ve tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today’s top cards

Silent Hill f review

Dying Light: The Beast review

OcUK Gaming Mach 5R review

Razer Kraken Kitty V3 Pro review

Borderlands 4 review

PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Contact Future’s experts

Terms and conditions

Privacy policy

Cookies policy

Advertise with us

Accessibility Statement

Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury,

BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait…