If Dwayne Johnson’s coup ended up being successful, the DCU would have been one big vanity project

Rewriting history in the face of failure has been a common practice for as long as recorded history has existed, but when you’re a self-promoter on the level of Dwayne Johnson, trying to deny that Black Adam was designed explicitly with the intention of having the actor and producer carve out his own corner of the DCU doesn’t hold much water.

After all, not only did the Seven Bucks co-founder and top-level executive Hiram Garcia openly admit that sequels, spinoffs, and crossovers aplenty were lurking in the back of their minds before the ill-fated blockbuster had even released, The Rock even went full Marvel Studios – and came in for intense mockery as a result – for describing Black Adam as “Phase One” of his plans.

If things had gone to plan, we’d have no doubt seen at least a couple of Black Adam sequels, more outings for the Justice Society, and that crossover with Henry Cavill’s Superman that the entire operation was transparently designed to build towards, all of which would have put Johnson front-and-center in one way or another.

The most telling aspect of the A-list superstar’s intentions are the widespread reports that he wasn’t interested in Shazam! at all, to the extent he reportedly knocked back a cameo in Fury of the Gods. Obviously, the two costumed characters have been archenemies dating back decades in the comic books, which added another exclamation point to the sentiment that Johnson was only looking out for himself and what worked in his best interests, rather than keeping taps on the DCU as a whole.

That won’t happen under James Gunn and Peter Safran’s watch, leaving us to wonder an alternate timeline where Dwayne Johnson Presents: Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam vs. Superman, produced by Dwayne Johnson, starring Dwayne Johnson, and a direct continuation to Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam would have existed.