Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was a presenter at Sunday night’s Oscars, alongside his Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt, but before he took the stage, Variety asked him about the fate of Black Adam.
As reported, DC Studios and its co-CEOs, James Gunn and Peter Safran, announced that Johnson’s hero wouldn’t be a part of the Warner Bros.-owned studio’s superhero film universe after the movie underperformed.
But the stickier widget was Henry Cavill as Superman. Johnson brought Cavill back to play the Man of Steel in a Black Adam after-credits scene. The former Witcher star happily told his fans he was back — until he wasn’t; Gunn and Safran are recasting the role for Superman: Legacy.
On Sunday night, Johnson was diplomatic, explaining, “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. Our audience score was in the 90s. Critics took a couple shots, but that’s just the business of it,” he continued.
Johnson said, “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.'”
Last December, Johnson explained while Adam won’t be part of the hero slate for now, “DC and [his company] Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters.”
For his part, Gunn tweeted at the time, “Love the Rock, and I’m always excited to see what he and Seven Bucks do next. Can’t wait to collaborate soon.”
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.