Black Adam's Dwayne Johnson has spoken his mind about Henry Cavill’s Superman, calling Warner Bros.’ decision not to bring him back to the DCU “inexcusable.”
The last time Cavill was truly seen on screen, aside from any alternate movie cuts, was in 2017’s Justice League. The character also managed to make faceless cameos in both Shazam! and Peacemaker.
Thanks to Johnson and his passion project, the Superman actor is back in his role, as seen in its post-credits scene. He even left his other mainstay part as Geralt in Netflix’s The Witcher—a move that may or may not be completely unrelated.
Now the actor behind the DCU’s new anti-hero has reiterated how he feels about the former regime at WB, opting to avoid bringing Cavill back sooner.
Johnson Comments on WB's Superman Decision
In a new tweet, Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson posted a video where he went on to discuss how the DC Universe has changed and how he heavily disagreed with Warner Bros.' decision to keep Henry Cavill and Superman away from the late DCEU.
To start off, Johnson pointed out how "[they] established Black Adam... [and] the Justice Society," two things that most people had never heard of before:
“When I talk about ‘the hierarchy of power in the DC universe has changed,’ [it’s] changed in a few ways. Number one: we established Black Adam around the world as the most powerful and dominant, unstoppable force in the DC universe. That is a fact. And we established the Justice Society around the world too. And keep in mind, noone– if you were not a hardcore comic book fan, noone heard of Black Adam or the Justice Society."
The star admitted that, of course, "hardcore comic book fans" were on their side, which he appreciates "to the bone."
He also pointed out how they wanted to establish Black Adam "as the most powerful, unstoppable force in the DCU Universe," which meant they also had to introduce the most powerful being in any universe:
"The hardcore comic book fans, we got the love, we got your love, we got your loyalty, and I appreciate that to the bone. But the rest of the world had no idea who Black Adam was, so we’re establishing the brand. And something else that we’re establishing is… so, two things. If we’re gonna establish Black Adam as the most powerful, unstoppable force in the DC universe, we have to bring back the most powerful, unstoppable force of all time in any universe."
Of course, this "unstoppable force of all time in any universe" was none other than Henry Cavill's Superman, who appeared after a long forced sabbatical from the DC Universe, something Johnson called "inexplicab[le] and inexcusab[le]:"
"And you guys know who I’m talking about. Of course, that is Superman, and that’s Henry Cavill. And at the end of the day, the studio was not bringing Henry Cavill back, inexplicably and inexcusably. But we weren’t going to take no for an answer. Myself, my Seven Bucks co-founder and chairwoman, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, our Seven Bucks president. This has been years in the making regarding bringing Henry Cavill back. And years of strategic conversations and we were not gonna take no for an answer."
The star went on to declare that there was absolutely no way to "build out the DC universe without the power powerful force and the great superhero of all time" on the board, which is why the actor fought so hard for Cavill's return:
"And also, something else to think about is, for us, there was no way, there’s no viable, logical way that you can attempt to build out the DC universe without the most powerful force and the greatest superhero of all time sitting on the sidelines. It’s impossible to do. You can Venn diagram, business-wise, this whole thing 90 different times. But it all comes back to, ‘Where’s Superman?’ You have to have Superman in the mix. So that’s why we fought hard to bring Superman back, Henry Cavill."
Johnson made sure to point out how another Superman was never considered and that "Henry Cavill is our generation's Superman:"
"And there was no other Superman, by the way, to bring back. Henry Cavill is our generation’s Superman and, in my opinion, the greatest Superman. And I mean that respectfully to the other actors, especially Christopher Reeve. But the greatest Superman of all time. So again, bringing Henry back, now we build out the DC universe properly, strategically, smartly. Again, the hierarchy of power in the DC universe has changed. And of course, we have new leadership at DC and at Warner Bros. Again, the hierarchy of power in the DC universe has changed. So, it’s a new era in the DC universe."
Alongside the video message, the actor also thanks fans for their support and reactions:
"Sayin’ thank ya so much from my ol’ pick up truck for all the amazing #BlackAdam support and reactions... #1 movie on iTunes... We’ll remain in theaters as well throughout the holidays... Also wanted to give ya some #Superman info..."
What Does the Future Hold for Superman and Black Adam?
As Black Adam was in the midst of its marketing, Johnson made plenty of comments about the future of his character, Henry Cavill’s Superman, and their big plans for the future. Funny enough, since then, Warner Bros. (WB) has installed entirely new leadership for its DCU content.
Filmmaker James Gunn and producer Peter Safran (who is behind the Shazam! Movies) now lead the charge. WB CEO David Zaslav has teased how the two’s passion for the job is extraordinary and that the future of DC Universe has never looked better.
When one adds on the fact that Black Adam didn’t perform as well as expected, both financially and critically, then it becomes clear that all of those promises made by Johnson may end up being empty.
At the very least, no matter what direction everything heads in, it does seem like Henry Cavill is safe—though fans are still a long way out from seeing a proper Man of Steel sequel. If there’s only one thing that truly sticks from Black Adam, hopefully, Superman’s return is it.
Keeping the character sidelined, as Johnson pointed out, was truly a terrible decision by those in charge at the time. The same sentiment can be applied to how Batman has been handled, though Zaslav promised to fix that up as well.
Fingers crossed that the new DCU roadmap will be revealed soon, and fans can have an idea of what they can look forward to and what might no longer be on the table.
Black Adam is now available for purchase digitally, while the physical 4K Blu-ray release will land on January 3, 2023.
