Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has compared Henry Cavill’s Superman’s exit from the DC Universe to a football team getting a new owner who’s decided you’re “not my quarterback”.
The DC slate of films has been undergoing an overhaul ever since James Gunn and Peter Safran took over the studio in October last year, with Cavill’s Superman comeback one of the casualties of the new leadership.
Speaking to Variety at the Oscars recently, Johnson said: “All that I can do, and all that we could do when we were making Black Adam, was to put our best foot forward and surround ourselves with the best people and deliver the best movie we could.
“Our audience score was in the 90s. Critics took a couple shots, but that’s just the business of it.”
On Cavill’s exit, Johnson added: “It’s almost like when you have a pro football team and your quarterback wins championships and your head coach wins championships and then a new owner comes in and says, ‘Not my coach, not my quarterback. I’m going to go with somebody new.’”
Johnson had teased Cavill’s return as Superman in a Black Adam post-credits scene as he was planning to explore the relationship between the two superheroes across multiple films.
However, in December last year, Johnson updated fans that Black Adam would not be a part of the “first chapter” in the new DC universe.
He said: “James Gunn and I connected, and Black Adam will not be in their first chapter of storytelling. However, DC and Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilised in future DC multiverse chapters.”
Johnson insisted he will “always root” for both DC and Marvel to succeed, and he remains “very proud” of Black Adam as a movie.
“I will always look back on the fan reaction to Black Adam with tremendous gratitude, humility and love. We did great.”
