Dwayne Johnson suffers another Black Adam humiliation

At the tail end of 2022, the superstar found himself on the outs with DC Studios – and his burgeoning Black Adam franchise was cut down.

Under the tenure of DC Studios’ new bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran, Johnson was told upcoming Black Adam movies would not be moving ahead, at least not in the next wave of DC titles. In the IP-driven movies world, never say never again, but for the foreseeable future, that’s the end of Johnson’s dour anti-hero.

It was an embarrassing defeat for an actor and producer whose name is often box office gold, and whose rising popularity with audiences spurred his parallel growth in power and influence within the industry.

Johnson had spent 15 years developing Black Adam, and he even convinced Warner Bros executives to bring back his friend Henry Cavill as Superman. The latter officially announced his return to DC movies before being dumped by Gunn and Safran, in favour of their plans for a younger Superman.

None of this is what Johnson had in mind earlier in the year, when he worked hard behind-the-scenes for Black Adam and Superman’s future.

A damning Variety report has detailed behind-the-scenes drama, meetings and demands that ultimately sank Johnson’s DC ambitions. Quoting multiple unnamed internal sources, the trade publication’s report is another blow to Johnson and his easygoing public image.

Details of Dwayne Johnson’s behind-the-scenes campaigning has been revealed. Picture: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Warner Bros.

According to Variety, not long after Warner Bros and Discovery merged in April 2022, Johnson took his creative vision directly to chief executive David Zaslav. It was a multi-year plan which would involve Johnson’s Black Adam and Cavill’s Superman, with the two characters’ fates connected in crossover titles.

That meeting was said to also involve Black Adam producers Hiram Garcia, who is Johnson’s former brother-in-law, and Beau Flynn. However, other sources told Variety that while the meeting took place, the discussion wasn’t focused on Black Adam, and was a more general talk about DC.

Variety said the existence of this meeting was an unpopular move internally at Warner Bros. One source said, “Dwayne went around everyone, which didn’t sit well.”

The meeting closed followed the merger and Zaslav was cleaning house, and the then-Warner film chief Toby Emmerich and DC boss Walter Hamada were both on their way out – which is why Johnson was even able to sit down director with Zaslav.

Emmerich was the one who decided in 2018 that he wanted someone other than Cavill to play Superman, and Cavill had not donned the famous cape since Justice League in 2017. His cameo in Black Adam was a homecoming which excited many fans, who were promised it would herald the next phase of Cavill’s Superman journey.

Dwayne Johnson had been working on Black Adam for 15 years. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

According to Variety, two other incidents also took the polish off Johnson’s shine at the studio, damaging his relationship at Warner Bros.

One was that he had “pushed” for a producing credit on the 2022 animated movie DC League of Super-Pets. He voiced the character Krypto and in a post-credits scene, that of Black Adam and his dog Anubis. But Johnson “did little” to promote film.

The other incident happened at the New York premiere of Black Adam, where Johnson insisted on a tequila bar to feature his alcohol venture, Teremana, even though the film was rated PG.

An inside source said to Variety, “His demands increased and the returns just weren’t there”.

And to cap everything off, Black Adam’s contentious box office success or lack thereof made it much easier for Gunn and Safran to insist on a different direction.

Black Adam’s global box office amounted to $US391 million, which would be a respectable haul except that the production and marketing budgets were over $US250 million. With exhibitors taking a cut of ticket sales, the movie either wasn’t or was barely profitable, depending on who you believe in the fight over the movie’s financial viability.

Dwayne Johnson won’t be part of DC Studios’ future plans – at least not anytime soon. Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

In the week before Christmas, Johnson posted on social media that he had taken a meeting with Gunn and Safran, and that Black Adam won’t be in the duo’s first tranche of DC projects.

He wrote that DC and his production company Seven Bucks were still exploring how the character could be part of Gunn and Safran’s storytelling vision in the future, a vague statement that allowed Johnson to save some face without actually committing to anything.

When Gunn and Safran took over DC, it was expected there would be some drama as they realigned DC’s inconsistent work and fortunes within their own vision. Cavill and Johnson aren’t the only ones out, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman movies were also culled.

But the Variety report illustrates that, at the very least, Johnson had upset enough people within the studio that they’re now willing to leak against him, which points to something more than just being grist in the mill of the DC relaunch.