So much focus has been placed on the embarrassing failure of Black Adam – and Dwayne Johnson’s subsequent exile from the DCU in near-record time – that it’s conveniently easy to forget that the star and producer released two movies under the comic book company’s banner last year.
Making it abundantly clear that his endgame was always a showdown with Superman, The Rock leveraged both his long-gestating debut as the Man in Black and the animated DC League of Super-Pets to set up a showdown with Kal-EL, but his live-action antihero is now out on the cold without the remotest possibility of squaring off against either Henry Cavill’s Kryptonian or John Krasinski’s Big Blue Boy Scout.
The 50 year-old has always been adamant that he makes movies for the fans first and foremost, and while they didn’t put their hands in their pockets to propel his crimefighting capers to box office glory, the younger generation has at least deemed them worthy of being put into consideration for the Kids Choice Awards, to which Johnson reacted honorably.
This is probably going to be the only time you see Black Adam in the running for anything approximating a “Best Picture” race, so those left fuming at the would-be franchise’s unceremonious exit from the James Gunn and Peter Safran era should enjoy it while it lasts. The floppy “Franchise Viagra” will be back with Red One this festive season, but it’s worth keeping an eye on the Kids Choice Awards just to see if his ill-fated DC tenure leads to a trophy or two.