Around the holiday season, we learned that Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam will not be part of the current plans for the DCU franchise under James Gunn and Peter Safran. While they indicated that they are leaving the door open for his return, some fans felt like it was the final nail in the coffin since the film underperformed at the box office.
It's also no secret that prior to Gunn and Safran's takeover of the DCU, Johnson was hyping up his involvement in the franchise during the promotional tour for Black Adam such as his move to bring back Henry Cavill's Superman and their plans for a Black Adam vs. Superman project which is now unlikely.
In a recent report from Variety that detailed the actor's falling out with Warner Bros., they claimed that Johnson did try to control the DC franchise after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger was completed. He pitched CEO David Zaslav a multi-year plan for Black Adam and Superman projects that would interweave.
However, Johnson and his team's attempt to take some control of the DC franchise didn't sit well with some of the people inside the studio. "Dwayne went around everyone, which didn’t sit well," citing a source of the report.
In addition, the relationship between Johnson and the studio was already wearing out even before the release of Black Adam. The actor was pushing for a producing credit on DC League of Super-Pets, but he did little to promote it which is disappointing for the studio.
Johnson was also reportedly insisting to have a tequila bar in the New York premiere of Black Adam featuring his Teremana brand even though the film is rated PG-13 and they are promoting for a family-friendly audience.
As we all know now, Black Adam ended up underperforming at the box office and now the character will not be part of the plans for the new DCU (at least for now). "His demands increased and the returns just weren’t there," according to an insider that the report cited.
This report certainly gives us a picture of what went down behind the scenes in terms of the relationship between Johnson and Warner Bros. during the making of Black Adam. Now that we know that he won't be part of the DCU again in the near future, it does give us an idea of why it all happened and some people will see it as not a good look for the actor.
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Black Adam is available to stream on HBO Max.
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