Dwayne Johnson has spoken out about a recent disagreement with Warner Bros that helped lead to the return of an iconic character to the DC movie universe.
On a video posted on social media, the star was discussing his new movie, Black Adam, and how it changed the DC universe going forward
Dwayne Johnson on establishing Black Adam as a dominant force
Johnson explained that the movie changed “the hierarchy of power” in DC by establishing his character, Black Adam, as the dominant force in the movies.
“When I talk about ‘the hierarchy of power in the DC universe has changed,’ [it’s] changed in a few ways. Number one: we established Black Adam around the world as the most powerful and dominant, unstoppable force in the DC universe. That is a fact. And we established the Justice Society around the world too. And keep in mind, noone– if you were not a hardcore comic book fan, noone heard of Black Adam or the Justice Society.”
“The hardcore comic book fans, we got the love, we got your love, we got your loyalty, and I appreciate that to the bone. But the rest of the world had no idea who Black Adam was, so we’re establishing the brand. And something else that we’re establishing is… so, two things. If we’re gonna establish Black Adam as the most powerful, unstoppable force in the DC universe, we have to bring back the most powerful, unstoppable force of all time in any universe.”
The other unstoppable force Dwayne Johnson was talking about was none other than Superman, as played by a returning Henry Cavill. Johnson thought it was “inexcusable” that DC didn’t bring Cavill back before now, and sought to rectify the situation during conversations with Warner Bros.
“And you guys know who I’m talking about. Of course, that is Superman, and that’s Henry Cavill. And at the end of the day, the studio was not bringing Henry Cavill back, inexplicably and inexcusably. But we weren’t going to take no for an answer. Myself, my Seven Bucks co-founder and chairwoman, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, our Seven Bucks president. This has been years in the making regarding bringing Henry Cavill back. And years of strategic conversations and we were not gonna take no for an answer.”
“And also, something else to think about is, for us, there was no way, there’s no viable, logical way that you can attempt to build out the DC universe without the most powerful force and the greatest superhero of all time sitting on the sidelines. It’s impossible to do. You can Venn diagram, business-wise, this whole thing 90 different times. But it all comes back to, ‘Where’s Superman?’ You have to have Superman in the mix. So that’s why we fought hard to bring Superman back, Henry Cavill.”
Dwayne Johnson wrapped up by saying Henry Cavill is “our generation’s Superman” as well as claiming he is the greatest to ever take the role.
“And there was no other Superman, by the way, to bring back. Henry Cavill is our generation’s Superman and, in my opinion, the greatest Superman. And I mean that respectfully to the other actors, especially Christopher Reeve. But the greatest Superman of all time. So again, bringing Henry back, now we build out the DC universe properly, strategically, smartly. Again, the hierarchy of power in the DC universe has changed. And of course, we have new leadership at DC and at Warner Bros. Again, the hierarchy of power in the DC universe has changed. So, it’s a new era in the DC universe.”
Sayin’ thank ya so much from my ol’ pick up truck for all the amazing #BlackAdam support and reactions
#1 movie on iTunes 🔥
We’ll remain in theaters as well throughout the holidays 🎅🏾⚡️
Also wanted to give ya some #Superman info 👊🏾
Happy 🦃🍿 pic.twitter.com/WyGa49J7Dr— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) November 23, 2022
H/T to The Direct for the above transcription.