Dwayne Johnson's Explosive Reaction to Black Adam Being Axed from James Gunn's DC Universe

Highlights

Black Adam's sequel was dropped from DC Studios' schedule due to changes in leadership and mixed reviews, which led to Johnson expressing his frustration.

The cancellation of the Black Adam sequel can be attributed to financial projections and a change in leadership at DC Studios.

Johnson expresses his disappointment with the decision, as he feels that the audience's response to the Black Adam project was not taken into consideration. From a creative perspective, he believes it was a missed opportunity.

Following the positive reception and success of Black Adam in October 2022, Dwayne Johnson expressed his enthusiasm for continuing his long-time passion project and further expanding the story of the superhero. However, as DC Studios underwent a change in leadership and shifted its focus to other projects, the Black Adam sequel was ultimately removed from the company's schedule. Nearly a year later, Johnson appears to indirectly criticize the executive at the studio responsible for this decision.

Black Adam received a mixed response upon its release, receiving an 88 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and grossing $391 million worldwide. While the film marked the highest opening of Johnson's career, it fell short of its financial expectations, making it a disappointment at the box office. Critically, the movie received a 38 percent rating from reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Although the exact reasons for dropping the sequel are still unclear, it is speculated that the decision was influenced by Black Adam's underwhelming financial performance and the mixed reviews. The new leadership at DC Studios, led by James Gunn and Peter Safran, may have factored these elements into their choice.

Johnson is still trying to understand why the Black Adam sequel was canceled almost a year after the film's release. However, he believes he has discovered the reason. During an appearance on Kevin Heart's Peacock show Hart to Heart, Johnson spoke about his feelings regarding DC's decision to halt the story. He explained that "Black Adam got caught in a vortex of new leadership" which resulted in numerous changes while they were in the process of creating and shooting the film. These changes reference the takeover of DC Studios by Gunn in October 2022.

According to Johnson, when companies of DC's magnitude and power experience changes in leadership, it becomes challenging to agree with all the new fiscal and creative decisions. He emphasized that the primary reason for the cancellation of the Black Adam project was the leadership changes, which will always remain a major mystery to him. Johnson also expressed his frustration that the sequel's consideration was based on financial aspects rather than taking the audience's perspective into account. He stated that when the opportunity to create something fresh and cater to the audience was not prioritized, it made the situation more difficult.

Johnson has shown his disagreement with Gunn's decision before. Earlier this year, he commented on DC's choice to recast Henry Cavill's Superman despite his return in Black Adam. Johnson compared it to replacing a successful athlete, saying, "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.'"

While there are no plans for a Black Adam sequel, it doesn't mean that the character will be completely removed from the DC universe. In December 2022, Johnson revealed that the sequel had been put on hold but stated, "DC and Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters." However, there have been no announcements about the superhero's future appearances in the DC universe.

Black Adam is available on Max.

Source: Peacock