Black Adam has become a lightning rod for controversy in recent weeks. When the Dwayne Johnson-led superhero movie hit theaters back in October, many thought the Rock's Midas touch would benefit the obscure character. Though the movie didn't have the warmest reception from critics, the film's audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and strong opening weekend seemed to guarantee a Black Adam sequel. Plus, the movie had an ace in the hole in the form of a cameo featuring Henry Cavill's Superman.
The box office returns for the film dropped quickly, though, and The Rock was accused of leaking inaccurate profit information on Black Adam to counter stories claming the movie was losing money. And there have been copious rumors of bad blood between Johnson and James Gunn regarding the future of the DC universe. According to Deadline, The Rock's portrayal of Black Adam will not feature in the first wave of Gunn's rebooted DC universe.
Dwayne Johnson took to social media Wednesday to make it official that he's heard from DC Studios co-head James Gunn and that Black Adam won't be a part of the first phase of DC's new plans. "However, DC and Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters," Johnson wrote today.
This news comes in the wake of Gunn and DC co-boss Peter Safran announcing thatHenry Cavill won't be part of the next early-days Superman movie (despite the actor announcing his return to the cape with Warner Bros' OK) that Gunn is penning, That news came amid other big reveals, i.e., that Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman 3 is being sidelined and that Black Adam will break even. Black Adam, which now count more than $391 million in global gross, is also available to watch now on HBO Max.
