Dwayne Johnson's attempt to take charge of the DC Extended Universe failed, and it appears some of the decisions he made - including forcing Warner Bros.' hand in bringing Henry Cavill back as Superman and leaking financial data to the trades - made it easy for DC Studios to bid farewell to the Black Adam star.
While the wrestler-turned-actor appeared to leave the door open to an eventual return as Teth-Adam, it's become apparent that ambitious plans for sequels and spin-offs will now come to nought.
Someone who may well have starred in one of those is Atom Smasher actor Noah Centineo. During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he reflected on being part of the DC Comics adaptation but doesn't sound overly optimistic about suiting up as the Deadpool lookalike again.
"We had such a wonderful time making that movie. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed four months on a shoot like I did during the filming of that movie," Centineo recalls. "There were so many of us, and we all just blended together, and everybody was so willing to just befriend one another, and we really became family, and that’s inclusive of Dwayne [Johnson] as well."
"He set the tone, and not just the cast, but everyone involved in it. We were constantly going to dinners and spending time with each other, and I will take that with me for the rest of my life, let alone the lessons and working with such iconic and deeply experienced and talented actors, our DP Lawrence Sher, our director [Jaume Collet-Serra], but it was the heart of that film for me that I’ll take with me forever. And I’m so grateful to have been a part of it."
Asked if he was "bummed" to hear that Henry Cavill's time as Superman is over, Centineo dodged the question and shared his excitement for what DC Studios have planned. However, the actor doesn't really express any excitement about being part of that and clearly hasn't been contacted about playing Atom Smasher in the new DCU.
"I honestly can’t even speak to any of that. I don’t really know what their plan is, and I’m psyched to see what they do with the DC worked," he said. "For me, I’m just really excited to see Peter Safran and James Gunn‘s vision for DC, those guys, they know what they’re doing. So, we’ll give it to him. I’m excited."
Reading between the lines here, we'd say Centineo has probably accepted that, after the poor critical and commercial response to Black Adam, DC Studios is unlikely to be in any hurry to bring any of these characters back. After all, we anticipate the "DCU" being a full-blown reboot rather than any sort of DCEU continuation.
Would you like to see more Atom Smasher in the DCU?