The jury’s still out on whether Dwayne Johnson was just stroking his own ego when he pushed to have Henry Cavill’s Superman make a post-credits appearance in Black Adam last fall, setting the stage for their characters to duke it out in an upcoming DCEU installment. Regardless, this big-screen clash of the titans wasn’t meant to be. Cavill is officially out as the Man of Steel, and Johnson’s future as Black Adam is murky at best. But the latter has no regrets about trying to pit these two DC heavyweights against each other.
Johnson reflected on his attempt to bring Cavill back into the DC fold while speaking with Variety at last night’s Oscars. He even acknowledged Black Adam’s lukewarm reviews, pointing out how casual moviegoers had nicer things to say about the film than professional critics did.
“All that I can do, and all that we could do when we were making Black Adam, was to put our best foot forward and surround ourselves with the best people and deliver the best movie we could,” said Johnson. “Our audience score was in the 90s. Critics took a couple shots, but that’s just the business of it.”
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Speaking of “the business,” Johnson also alluded to James Gunn and Peter Safran’s recent takeover as DC’s new co-CEOs. Evidently, Gunn and Safran “connected” with Johnson shortly after their hiring last fall and informed him that their current plans don’t involve Black Adam in any capacity. But it doesn’t sound like there’s any ill will between them and Johnson over his character’s fate.
“It’s almost like when you have a pro football team and your quarterback wins championships and your head coach wins championships and then a new owner comes in and says, ‘Not my coach, not my quarterback. I’m going to go with somebody new,’” added Johnson.
Several critics have pointed out how it was unfair to Cavill to let him confirm his Superman return before Warners hired a new DC team to chart a course for the character’s future. The hero’s next movie, Superman: Legacy, is being written by Gunn himself and will introduce a much younger Clark Kent when it hits theaters in 2025. In the meantime, Cavill has another big franchise poised to keep him busy for the next few years. Although he has since vacated his role as Geralt of Rivia on The Witcher, he recently signed on to executive produce and star in a new Warhammer 40,000 series for Amazon Prime.
What do you think of Johnson’s latest comments? Let us know in the comment section below!
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