Ever since Dwayne Johnson finally willed the long-gestating Black Adam into production, he’s been repeatedly telling anyone willing to listen that the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe was about to change. Well, that’s exactly what’s been happening, but not in the way anyone could have predicted.
David Zaslav has been mercilessly swinging the axe, with Batgirl the highest-profile casualty of wide-ranging cost-cutting measures that could leave the DCEU as we know it in a state of irredeemable disrepair. James Gunn has reassured us that Peacemaker is safe, but fans are still concerned about the potential fates of Blue Beetle, Black Canary, and the Green Lantern series, while there’s even murmurings of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and The Flash being delayed yet again.
It’s easy to point fingers and find a scapegoat in situations like this, and DCEU diehards are now blaming The Rock for failing to clarify just how, when, and why the hierarchy of power would change, with the fandom now living in a perpetual state of unease.
Of course, it’s got nothing to do with Johnson, and he could end up becoming the figurehead of the entire franchise moving forward should Black Adam live up to expectations and launch those spinoffs everyone keeps telling us about, even if his League of Super-Pets did score one of the comic book outfit’s worst opening weekends of the 21st Century.
Once again, the current complexion of the DCEU lies in tatters and misery, but maybe we should have been heeding Johnson’s warnings all along instead of writing them off as hyperbole.
