The DCEU is undeniably one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood, but it’s always lacked leadership from both an on and offscreen perspective. Before Walter Hamada was appointed as DC Films president in January 2018, there had already been multiple names tasked with spearheading the shared universe at various points, and even now there’s talk of a civil war brewing at Warner Bros. over the future of the SnyderVerse following the success of Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
None of the DCEU’s marquee heroes have been able to establish themselves on the same sort of level as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s core Avengers, either, as nobody’s come close to acting as its Robert Downey Jr., or even its Chris Hemsworth or Chris Evans. Although that’s hardly the fault of the stars.
Henry Cavill’s Superman has been sidelined for years, Ben Affleck never got a solo movie and retired as Batman before being tempted back, while the tepid responses to both Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 have dented the standing of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince.
Where things will go from here remains to be seen, but we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Affleck would return in The Flash long before it was confirmed – that Dwayne Johnson is lobbying to get himself involved with the DCEU’s decision making process moving forward, although it would largely revolve around his corner of the mythology that features Black Adam, Shazam! and any potential Justice Society of America spinoffs.
It would make sense for this to happen, too, given that he’s the biggest movie star on the planet, and a hugely popular and influential presence, one who also happens to be a powerful producer in his own right. The DCEU has always been fluid in its evolution, but having Dwayne Johnson calling at least some of the shots certainly isn’t the dumbest idea we’ve ever heard from Warner Bros.
