Dwayne Johnson has confirmed that his hopes for a “Black Adam” sequel have been dashed after DC landed under new leadership recently…
It took 15 years for Dwayne Johnson to finally realize his dream and bring “Black Adam” to the big screen but it appears for now it will be one and done for the iconic anti-hero.
On Tuesday, Johnson released a statement via Twitter confirming that plans for a “Black Adam” sequel have effectively been cancelled after DC underwent a huge change in leadership with James Gunn and Peter Safran taking over as co-CEO’s.
“I wanted to give you a long-awaited ‘Black Adam’ update regarding the character’s future in the new DC Universe,” Johnson wrote. “James Gunn and I connected and ‘Black Adam’ will not be in their first chapter of storytelling. However, DC and Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways ‘Black Adam’ can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters.
“James and I have known each other for years and have always rooted for each other to succeed. It’s no different now and I will always root for DC (and Marvel) to win and WIN BIG. You guys know me, and I have very thick skin and you can always count on me to be direct with my words.”
Gunn and Safran have been making wholesale changes to the direction for the DC Extended Universe with most believing that the duo plans to essentially wipe the slate clean creatively and start over with a new connected universe across film, television and animation. As part of their plans, Gunn and Safran already announced plans for a new “Superman” movie but with that came news that Henry Cavill would not be returning to play the Man of Steel.
That came as a shock after Cavill had just recently appeared in a post-credit scene in “Black Adam,” with the actor later announcing that he was officially returning as Superman. It was just a matter of weeks later that Warner Bros. Discovery hired Gunn and Safran to oversee the creative direction of DC Studios, which obviously involved plans to try and start over with a new slate of films and TV series that would hit the reset button for the comic book company turned studio.
While nothing has been confirmed, rumors have been swirling for weeks that the new leadership at DC would also likely be cutting ties with other actors who have previously portrayed characters in films including Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Jason Momoa as Aquaman. “Wonder Woman 3” has already been scrapped and all signs point to Gadot not returning to her role in future films or projects.
It’s disappointing news for Johnson, who had hoped to launch an ambitious series of films centered around “Black Adam” while also bringing Cavill back into the fold as Superman. Cavill also happens to be managed by Johnson’s business partner Dany Garcia, which helped facilitate his cameo in “Black Adam” as well as his planned return as Superman.
Now that’s all been scrapped — although Johnson hinted that perhaps Black Adam could reappear in some other fashion in a future DC project.
“These decisions made by James and DC leadership represent their vision of DCU through their creative lens,” Johnson wrote. “After 15 years of relentless hard work to finally make ‘Black Adam,’ I’m very proud of the film we delivered for fans worldwide. I will always look back on the fan reaction to ‘Black Adam’ with tremendous gratitude, humility and love. We did great.”
While “Black Adam” was a hugely important project to Johnson, the film didn’t deliver blockbuster numbers at the box office with the film pulling in just over $391 million at the global box office after reportedly costing $260 million to make. When factoring in marketing costs, “Black Adam” was not expected to pull a profit, although Johnson actually countered that with a previous post on Twitter where he stated that the film would net proceeds between $52 to $72 million.
Regardless, DC now has other plans in store for the shared universe that Gunn and Safran are building that don’t involve Black Adam for now.
Black Adam⚡️ pic.twitter.com/b7ZbCJZxBw
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) December 20, 2022
