You don’t become one of the biggest, most popular, and highest-paid stars in Hollywood without being a master of self-promotion, but a new report indicates that Dwayne Johnson‘s hubris didn’t do him any favors when it came to what turned out to be an embarrassingly short stint in the DCU.
Black Adam had spent 15 years in development hell, and when it finally landed, it did so with a dull thud. Pounded by critics and failing to even crack $400 million at the global box office, an A-list superstar headlining a $200 million blockbuster set in Hollywood’s most bankable genre sounded like a slam dunk on paper, but it wasn’t to be.
Needless to say, Johnson’s “hierarchy of power” talk has been roundly mocked in the aftermath, with the post-credits scene proving to be for naught after both he and the returning Henry Cavill were almost instantly cast aside. According to Variety, The Rock’s behind the scenes antics didn’t endear him to the top brass, and may have ultimately hastened his departure.
As the story goes, the 50 year-old went above everyone’s heads and straight to CEO David Zaslav to pitch a sprawling Black Adam saga that would culminate in a massive showdown opposite Cavill’s Superman. On top of that, despite the PG-13 nature of the project, the actor and producer also demanded a Teremana tequila bar at the New York premiere so he could promote his own brand of booze.
This isn’t the first time Johnson has been accused of putting his own self-interest in front of the DCU, with rumors claiming he knocked back both Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash cameos, and it may have come back to spectacularly sink its teeth into his ass now he’s been pushed out of the door.
