Before James Gunn and Peter Safran emerged from the cage, bloodied and battered, there was a massive battle royale to see who would control the reins of DC's perpetually turbulent film division. Once it became abundantly clear that Zach Snyder's noxious version of the DC universe was going to lead the franchise to ruin, Warner Brothers started sending out feelers for new creatives to architect DC's film brand. One of the most unlikely names in contention for the head of DC's film studio was Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Johnson, hoping to use his leverage as a massive star and the DCEU's version of Black Adam, allegedly began maneuvering for control of the DC universe. In an attempt to solidify his vision for the company, Johnson included Henry Cavill's version of Superman in the post-credits scene for Black Adam. Well, long story short, Johnson and Cavill eventually got voted off the proverbial island in favor of James Gunn and a new Superman actor that's yet to be announced.
According to Variety, while at the Oscars on Sunday, Johnson got a chance to recount Gunn and Safran's decision to take the DC universe in a less "rocky" direction.
Dwayne Johnson took a moment on the Oscars red carpet to reflect on the DC Universe overhaul that put a pin in his plans for a Black Adam–Superman crossover movie. Variety's senior culture and events editor Marc Malkin caught up with Johnson and asked about Cavill's Superman being dropped from the DC Universe despite his highly-touted comeback in Johnson's "Black Adam."
"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," Johnson said. "Our audience score was in the 90s. Critics took a couple shots, but that's just the business of it."
"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.'"
