Dwayne Johnson Weighs in on Henry Cavill's DC Exit After 'Black Adam' Brings Back Superman: We 'Put Our Best Foot Forward'

Dwayne Johnson took a moment on the Oscars red carpet to reflect on the DC Universe overhaul that put a pin in his plans for a Black Adam-Superman crossover movie. DiversityDC’s Senior Culture and Events Editor Mark Malkin spoke with Johnson and asked him about Cavill’s removal of Superman from the DC Universe despite Johnson’s highly publicized return in “Black Adam”.

“All that I can do, and all that we could do when we were making ‘Black Adam,’ was to put our best foot forward and surround myself with the best people and deliver the best movie, Johnson said. “Our audience scores were in the 90s. Critics took a few shots at it, but that’s just the business of it.

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“It’s almost like when you have a pro football team and your quarterback wins the championship and your head coach wins the championship and then a new owner comes in and says, ‘Not my coach, not my quarterback. Going with.’”

Johnson is of course referring to new DC studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran, who were announced as the new architects of the DC Universe after “Black Adam” opened in theaters last October. In bringing back Cavill’s Superman for the post-credits scene, Johnson was laying the groundwork for his own DC Universe in which the relationship between Black Adam and Superman would be mapped across multiple films. “Black Adam” did not do well at the box office (it did not even reach $400 million worldwide), and the hiring of Gunn and Safran effectively scrapped Johnson’s plan.

“James Gunn and I are connected, and Black Adam will not be in his first chapter of storytelling,” Johnson told fans last December, “However, DC and Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways to use Black Adam in future DC Multiverse chapters.”

“After 15 years of tireless work to finally make ‘Black Adam,’ I am so proud of the film we have created for fans around the world,” Johnson said. with tremendous gratitude, humility and love.”

After the opening weekend of “Black Adams”, Henry Cavill publicly announced his return as Superman on social media. Two months later, Gunn announced that Cavill would not actually be Superman in the new DC Universe as he was writing a new Man of Steel film centered on a younger iteration of the superhero. That film, “Superman: Legacy,” is set for a 2025 release date. Gunn and Safran are also developing “Supergirl: World of Tomorrow” and a Batman and Robin film, “The Brave and the Bold” as part of the new DC Universe.

Before ‘Black Adam’ opens in theaters, Johnson and his producing partner Hiram Garcia gave several interviews to I Press In which he faced off against Johnson’s Black Adam and Cavill’s Superman on the big screen.

“We really want to create an exhilarating form of storytelling and show that these two characters exist in the same universe and are going to deal with each other either in the same or opposite directions,” Garcia told CinemaBlend, “Hopefully they’re going to fight at some point, but it’s not just about ‘one fight’ situation. That was never our dream. It doesn’t reward the fans. The fans are a force between these guys.” Want to feel the journey, knowing that these people exist in the same universe.

Watch Johnson’s full Oscars red carpet interview in the video below.