Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam emerged as a major box office flop when it was released in 2022, despite the heavy marketing and promotion of a future face-off with Henry Cavill’s Superman. For the former wrestler-turned-actor, he gave his everything and regretted nothing.
Dedicating one’s heart and soul to a passion project entails a lot of willpower to accept that it might not end up successful, and Johnson tried to make peace with the fact that he could not please everyone with Black Adam, unlike his other blockbuster franchises.
Dwayne Johnson Did His Best To Bring Black Adam And Superman Together
In his interview with Variety, actor Dwayne Johnson reflected on the disappointing reception of Warner Bros’ Black Adam as well as the foiled plan to bring the character toe-to-toe against Henry Cavill’s Superman.
“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.”
Throughout the movie’s theatrical run, Johnson has been very professional in dealing with critics and bashers. Despite his project’s catastrophic ending, he was grateful for the opportunity to turn his dream movie into reality. He said in a Twitter post:
“After 15 years of relentless hard work to finally make ‘Black Adam,’ I’m very proud of the film we delivered for fans worldwide. I will always look back on the fan reaction to ‘Black Adam’ with tremendous gratitude, humility, and love.”
The shakeup in the management and the revamp of the franchise caused tremendous changes in a lot of the projects under DC. Even Cavill, who was supposed to join Johnson, was very disappointed that he had to hang up the suit for good. With James Gunn now heralding a new league of heroes and villains, a new era of Superman is on the way, though without Cavill.
James Gunn On The Outcry After Henry Cavill’s Superman Exit
There had been so much backlash after the announcement of several project cancellations, but most especially, the issue with Henry Cavill no longer returning as Superman. James Gunn addressed this in a Twitter post, though he did not specifically mention the actor or the character:
“Our choices for the DCU are based upon what we believe is best for the story and best for the DC characters who have been around for nearly 85 years. Perhaps these choices are great, perhaps not, but they are made with sincere hearts and integrity, and always with the story in mind.”
He acknowledged that he and Peter Safran were aware of the uproar their decisions would cause, and they were prepared for the worst, but he noted that no hurtful words can ever deter them from doing their jobs as creative directors and artists.
On the other hand, Dwayne Johnson revealed that he and Gunn have spoken and agreed that they will continue to explore Black Adam and find ways how they could use the character in future movie installments.
