His role as iconic caped crime fighter Superman has rapidly established him as a rising Hollywood star.

And Henry Cavill, 35, admitted that he was ‘desperate’ to do his own stunts in his new film Mission Impossible: Fallout, but doing so would have put his co-stars in some serious danger.

Making an appearance on Good Morning America on Tuesday to discuss the action film, the actor admitted: ‘On my first day…I said guys anything that’s legal and won’t involve me killing people if I mess up then I’m in.’

Dangerous: Henry Cavill admitted on Tuesday he wanted to do his own stunts but couldn’t do a HALO jump because he could have KILLED Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible: Fallout

‘I got to do all my own stuff apart from one! I could not do, and this was the most heart-breaking thing for me, a HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jump.

Jumping out of a C17 at dusk was my idea of magic, and I was praying they’d let me do it, begging Tom [Cruise].

‘Tom eventually said to me, “I understand what you’re saying, I’d love for you to do it but if you do the chances are you will kill me and everyone else in the process.”’

Eager: Speaking on Good Morning America, he said: ‘Jumping out of a C17 at dusk was my idea of magic, and I was praying they’d let me do it, begging Tom’

Not allowed: He added, ‘Tom eventually said to me, “I understand what you’re saying, I’d love for you to do it but if you do the chances are you will kill me and everyone else in the process”’

Tom – who famously insists on doing all of his own stunts – still did the jump, and of the scene Henry added: ‘He did hundreds of hours of jumping, and that shooting sequence was I think 106 jumps just to shoot that sequence.’

Production on the film notoriously stopped for two months while Tom recovered from an injury, where he broke his ankle performing a gravity defying stunt.

This was far from the only dangerous stunt performed by Tom in the nail-biting action thriller, as he also pulled off one of his most dangerous feats to date by nosediving during a solo helicopter ride.

Exciting role: Henry takes on the role of spy August Walker in the film, and his character is pitted against Ethan and are even seen engaging in a very intense bathroom fight

Tom even learned to fly an Airbus helicopter by himself in a short space of time and was then responsible for filming his own action scene during the dangerous flight sequence.

Henry takes on the role of spy August Walker in the film who is character is pitted against Ethan, and they are even seen engaging in a very intense bathroom fight.

The sixth film in the Mission Impossible franchise sees the hero and the IMF team ‘race against time after a mission gone wrong’.