The autopsy on the short and long-term future of the DCU under new co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran remains underway, and the one person everyone’s dying to hear from the most hasn’t uttered a single word yet. We are of course referring to Dwayne Johnson, with the actor and producer having seen his plans to “change the hierarchy of power” go up in smoke.
The long-gestating Black Adam under-performed at the box office after failing to clear $400 million globally, before an insane conspiracy theory (which has admittedly yet to be debunked) emerged that Johnson had leaked false financial information to the trades claiming his long-gestating passion project was actually profitable.
Then there’s the whole Henry Cavill fiasco, with The Rock spending years trying to get the franchise’s Superman into the film via post-credits cameo, which ultimately ended up leading absolutely nowhere when Gunn confirmed the Man of Steel star was out of the picture and not part of the DCU’s plans.
To rub even further salt into the wounds, reports have now been making the rounds offering that Johnson was offered the chance to pop up for a guest spot in Shazam! Fury of the Gods to tee up a showdown with his comic book arch-nemesis, but he turned it down.
If Gunn does what we’re all thinking he’s going to do and axes Black Adam from the DCU entirely, then Johnson could be joining Cavill on the scrapheap. Interestingly, Shazam! and its sequel are the only features to have been produced by Seven Bucks that the man himself hasn’t appeared in as an on-camera talent, so it’s beginning to look as though his entire involvement (and alleged disdain) for the property was a means to an end to get to the Superman face-off that isn’t even on the cards anymore.
