BLACK ADAM Star Dwayne Johnson Says WB "Inexplicably, Inexcusably" Did Not Want Henry Cavill Back As Superman

BLACK ADAM Star Dwayne Johnson Says WB "Inexplicably, Inexcusably" Did Not Want Henry Cavill Back As Superman BLACK ADAM Star Dwayne Johnson Says WB "Inexplicably, Inexcusably" Did Not Want Henry Cavill Back As Superman

Dwayne Johnson has taken to social media to thank fans for making Black Adam the No. 1 movie on iTunes, confirming that the studio had no intention of bringing Henry Cavill back as Superman in the process.

By MarkCassidy - Nov 23, 2022 10:11 PM EST
Filed Under: Black Adam

Black Adam is now available to stream on Digital, and star Dwayne Johnson has taken to Twitter to thank fans for making the DCU movie No. 1 on iTunes - while also confirming some recent reports about the previous Warner Bros. regime and the studio brass' feelings about Henry Cavill's potential Superman return!

The Enola Holmes 2 actor finally reprised the role for Black Adam's mid-credits scene, but it had been quite a while since we'd seen him prior to this, and reports emerged shortly after the movie's release that his return very nearly didn't happens because WB simply had no interest in bringing him back as the Man of Steel.

In the video below, Johnson confirms that the studio "inexplicably and inexcusably" had zero intention of reintroducing Cavill's take on Supes to the DCU until he and his fellow Black Adam producers forced the issue.

We still don't know why Warners didn't want Cavill back as Supes, exactly, but it might have something to do with the fact that the three movies he featured in as the iconic hero - Man of Steel, Batman V Superman and Justice League - underperformed at the box office.

Johnson also acknowledges that Black Adam hasn't performed quite as well as they'd have liked overseas, but believes there's still room for growth, and says "our margins don't live or die by box office numbers."

"From New Line Cinema, Dwayne Johnson stars in the action adventure Black Adam. The first-ever feature film to explore the story of the DC Super Hero comes to the big screen under the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra (“Jungle Cruise”). Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods— and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam (Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world."

Johnson stars alongside Aldis Hodge (City on a Hill, One Night in Miami) as Hawkman, Noah Centineo (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) as Atom Smasher, Sarah Shahi (Sex/Life, Rush Hour 3) as Adrianna, Marwan Kenzari (Murder on the Orient Express, The Mummy) as Ishmael, Quintessa Swindell (Voyagers, Trinkets) as Cyclone, Bodhi Sabongui (A Million Little Things) as Amon, and Pierce Brosnan (the Mamma Mia! and James Bond franchises) as Dr. Fate.

Black Adam is now in theaters.

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JUSTICE LEAGUE Star Henry Cavill Takes A Shot At His Superman Return In BLACK ADAM's Post-Credits Scene

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Forthas
Forthas - 11/23/2022, 10:44 PM
The decision not to have Henry Cavill return is one of the NUMEROUS reasons why they failed so badly. If they had paired Man of Steel with the Dark Knight Trilogy and used the tone as a blueprint of how to proceed forward, there is no question in my mind that Warner Brothers would equal if not surpass the Marvel Cinematic universe. To those that made that decision...

dracula
dracula - 11/23/2022, 11:43 PM
@Forthas - dude, nobody from the Dark Knight trilogy wants anything to do with Batman unless Nolan is in charge and he too is done with the Superhero genre. You would have no batman if they connected them.

Also very few DC characters fit the nolan style (who wants dark and grounded Shazam?)

None of Cavil’s movies made enough to be worth making with barely any profit
MrDandy
MrDandy - 11/23/2022, 11:44 PM
@Forthas - this was never really an option. Nolan was done and wanted to move on from the series and Bale has multiple times said he would only come back with Nolan involved.

So you could maybe keep that continuity but with a new creator and actor? At that point, what’s the point?
ImBatman4realz
ImBatman4realz - 11/23/2022, 11:54 PM
@MrDandy - WB tried it though. They offered Christian Bale an insane amount of money to return as Batman in BvS, but he said no.

At the time I was saddened by the news, but honestly regardless of what anyone says, Batfleck is my favorite Batman 🤘🏻
Taonrey
Taonrey - 11/24/2022, 12:00 AM
@dracula - people have been telling him this for damn near a decade. At this point you just gotta let him to his thing.
Forthas
Forthas - 11/24/2022, 1:54 AM
@dracula -

"...nobody from the Dark Knight trilogy wants anything to do with Batman unless Nolan is in charge and he too is done with the Superhero genre. You would have no batman if they connected them."

Do you represent them? The thing to do would be to ASK THEM and Zack Snyder and Warner Brothers did not do that. Plus Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman and Michael Cain have stated in various publications they would be happy to continue so I am not sure where you are getting your information. Christian Bale stated he was never asked.

"Also very few DC characters fit the nolan style (who wants dark and grounded Shazam?)"

First...Nolan's "style" is not "dark" or at least not anymore dark than Marvel films like Infinity War and Multiverse of Madness and they seem to do fine! Second the box office has proven that nobody wants childish fantasy Shazam which will be even more apparent when War of the Gods bombs. I frequently forget the film is coming out.

Cavill's initial Man of Steel film greenlit not one...but two films which would be Batman v Superman and Justice League so I beg to differ.
Forthas
Forthas - 11/24/2022, 2:00 AM
@MrDandy - Nobody is suggesting Nolan return to it so I am not sure why that is a factor. Bale indicated that NO ONE ASKED HIM

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/christian-bale-batman_n_6262216

...and in a separate interview he stated that the leadership at Warner Brothers told him his services were no longer needed.

https://www.mensxp.com/entertainment/hollywood/70273-christian-bale-opens-up-about-the-moment-he-was-told-he-was-no-longer-batman-it-r
squo-s-so-classy.html
Forthas
Forthas - 11/24/2022, 2:03 AM
@ImBatman4realz - The money offer is an debunked false internet rumor...

https://ew.com/article/2013/08/14/christian-bale-batman-50-million/
dracula
dracula - 11/24/2022, 2:35 AM
@Forthas -
https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/christian-bale-turned-down-fourth-batman-movie-christopher-nolan-1202190295/

right there, No Nolan, then no Bale.

Aquaman and Thor Ragnarok showed there is plenty of audience for the goofy stuff (and deadpoool and guardian of the galaxy, plus the success of peacemaker, like seriously deadpool is no more mature than shazam, just has blood and sex)

They green lit two films to catch up to marvel, one had to throw batman in when the original plan was just man of steel 2 and still failed to bring in the results they should (over 80% of audience lost in one week) and those two finally got the studio to ditch the hack.

Man of steel and bvs couldn't even triple their budget and each film is more expensive than the last

aquaman, shazam, most of the non snyer stuff does more than triple

The Dark Knight trilogy worked because it was batman, was a mistake to try that approach with superman

you can do something similar but yeah the batman approach doesn't work with superman (or most dc heroes)

need something like this


(really that whole universe is the style they need, different than marvel but still maintaining the character's core traits)

or



staying the course of man of steel means a dc universe devoid of hope
Forthas
Forthas - 11/24/2022, 10:39 AM
@dracula - You keep convoluting what is being stated. Here is a DIRECT quote from Christian Bale....

“Then when they inevitably came to us and said, 'How about a No. 4?' I said, 'No. We have to stick to Chris’ dream, which was always to, hopefully, do a trilogy. Let’s not stretch too far and become overindulgent and go for a fourth.' That’s why we, well Chris, stepped away. After that I was informed my services were no longer required,” he laughed.”

https://www.cbr.com/christian-bale-explains-no-batman-4/

Let’s focus on the last sentence! When Bale says ....”when we....stepped away”, he makes it a point to CLARIFY it was Christopher Nolan that stepped away. Here is the fulll sentence AGAIN!

“That’s why we, well Chris, stepped away. After that I was informed my services were no longer required,”

If he is the one who walked away....why would Warner Brothers need to inform him of that? I will answer for you....becasue he did not step away. Make no mistake, WARNER BROTHERS made the fateful decsion to move away from Nolan’s Batman not Bale.

Need more proof....

Here is the article indicating that Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan DID discussed pairing the two which was well after Man of Steel and Dark Knight Rises had come out ....why would they do that if it had already been established that Nolan was no longer involved and Bale had “walked away” from the role.

https://movieweb.com/man-of-steel-dark-knight-universe-snyder-nolan/

Need more proof....

Here is the article in which Zack Snyder ADMITS it was solely his decision to move away from Nolan’s Batman = even agaiinst people at the studio....in which he states....

"Even people at the studio would say, ‘Who are you getting from the other movies?’ And I was like, ‘Hey, come on guys, let’s all understand, it’s a different world.’ In the Batman universe that Chris Nolan created, Superman would have a hard time existing....that’s why we did a reboot on the universe, so we could allow these characters to exist together. We needed to do that to have Batman exist in this world.”

Seems kind of strange that the studio was asking Snyder about continuing the No;an Trilogy’ Wouldn’t they already know that Bale “walked away?” Then curiously Snyder’s response makes no mention of him needing to do this because Bale had moved on because that is NOT what happened. I am purely speculating but think that the studio eventually realized Snyder did screw up by not pairing the Dark knight films with Man of Steel and after they saw batman v Superman they wanted to part from him.

Thor Ragnarak is not a billion doll;ar film. It pronbably did as well as it did because it is part of the MCU. Like I stated earlier ONLY the outlandish Aquaman became a billion dollar film because of a massive portion of its money came from China not because everyone outside of China loved this film any more than any other super hero film.

Lets compare films more or less in the style of Nolan which are financially successful or critically acclaimed or in most cases both!!!!

Dark Knight - billion dollar film without a shared universe
Dark Knight Rises - billion dollar film without a shared universe
Logan - highest grossing Wolverine solo film
The Joker - billion dollar film without being part of a shared universe,
The Batman - did better than anything that has come out of the DC film universe since

...to films that embrace comic book outlandishness

Aquaman - struggles critically and even its RT audience score is less than Man of Steel
Wonder Woman 1984 - a critical and commercial failure even by COVID era standards
The Suicide Squad - a commercial failure worse than even Wonder Woman 1984
Shazam - struggles commercially and its derivatives (Black Adam) also struggle financially

You cannot look at the success of grounded realistic films like those that emulate Nolan and not accept that it is what audiences really want. The route you keep suggesting they go with Superman has ALREADY been tried. It was called Superman Returns and by every measure except critics (the most meaningless measure of them all) it is the more preferred version of Superman. I don’t see any campaigns trying to get Brandon Routh back to play Superman.
MasterMix
MasterMix - 11/23/2022, 10:49 PM
Dear, WB
dracula
dracula - 11/23/2022, 11:39 PM
@MasterMix - fine that he is back but really not like they gain anything of value with him

All his movies got split reactions and none reached box office expectation (and now that includes Black Adam)

It was dumb to leave superman in limbo for so long but really they just needed Superman, not necessarily Cavil
MasterMix
MasterMix - 11/23/2022, 11:53 PM
@dracula - Henry Cavill looks and feels so much like Superman that I think he can be salvaged the way Ryan Reynolds salvaged Deadpool from his appearance in X-Men Origins. He just needs the right material to work with.
Taonrey
Taonrey - 11/24/2022, 12:02 AM
@MasterMix - that was one movie and Deadpool was in it for like 10 minutes. Warner has been beating Superman lifeless body since Superman III. Dude legit hasn't had a good film since 1981.
MasterMix
MasterMix - 11/24/2022, 12:10 AM
@Taonrey - I know. I've had the same thought before. It's so frustrating. Superman III was the Richard Pryor show, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was a glorified B movie, Superman Returns was more focused on nostalgia than action, and Man of Steel went too far in an edgy direction. Each movie has at least one or more good things in it, but they're nothing compared to Superman: The Movie or Superman II.
dracula
dracula - 11/24/2022, 12:28 AM
@MasterMix - agree he is salvageable
Winston19
Winston19 - 11/23/2022, 10:51 PM
New drinking game. Every time DJ says "The hierarchy of power in the DC universe” take a shot…


…. I’m trashed just from this video
HopediahPlanter
HopediahPlanter - 11/23/2022, 11:21 PM
@Winston19 -
MisterDoctor217
MisterDoctor217 - 11/23/2022, 10:55 PM
Guys I’m watching Black Adam as we speak and why is no one talking about how blatantly of an amalgamation of is of other superhero movies ! Literally.
All the ideas and concepts, even some jokes are stolen from other movies, it does not come up with anything new at all.

No wonder this failed at the box office.
I know Dr Fate is from the comics but it’s inevitable to see and I’m sure the general audience thinks the same, how much of a copy of Dr Strange he is.

Hawkman is a T’Challa wannabe, and Atom Smasher is Antman, Deadpool and Spidey rolled into one.

Also it’s not as entertaining as I’d hope sadly, the action scenes I’ve seen them in Man of Steel and Batman V Superman.

I don’t mean to say this to ignite a fan war, I’m genuinely baffled at how Johnson and WB could do this.
Like why?
EskimoJ
EskimoJ - 11/23/2022, 11:01 PM
@MisterDoctor217 - 🤨 Hawkman is nothing like T'Challa other than being a black man with a special metal.
MisterDoctor217
MisterDoctor217 - 11/23/2022, 11:06 PM
@EskimoJ -

Maybe in the comics but in the movie he walks, is presented and takes the role T’Challa does in the MCU.
He comes across as regal and highly moral, even some of his attire is reminiscent of T’Challa.
He even jumped out of a jet just like him xD
ImBatman4realz
ImBatman4realz - 11/23/2022, 11:59 PM
@MisterDoctor217 - LMFAO… what on earth are you talking about?

What jokes are from other movies, and what scenes do you feel like are from other movies? Hawkman was nothing like T’Challa. You said he jumped out of a plane… many superheroes do that, not just Black Panther 💁🏻‍♂️

Black Adam is the most entertaining superhero movie this year. MCU can keep their watered down janky CGI, and the Matt Reeves Batman was way too long.
MisterDoctor217
MisterDoctor217 - 11/24/2022, 12:16 AM
@ImBatman4realz -

Lol hey that’s just an opinion
I didn’t find it as entertaining as Doctor Strange MoM

But many people agree I guess, if we go by box office numbers xD

But hey it’s all subjective, if you enjoyed it I’m glad for you man 💌
JDL
JDL - 11/24/2022, 3:08 AM
@ImBatman4realz - Dude what are you on ? I stopped watching after 30 minutes. The pacing was terrible and the acting was close enough to melodrama to be off-putting. I'm surprised it's doing as well as it is.
MochaKing
MochaKing - 11/24/2022, 7:17 AM
@MisterDoctor217 - I agree on the part they used other movie iconic scenes.

for eg: Remember in Iron Man 2008 film, right after Iron Man is hit by shot from a tank, he emerges from rubble with camera focusing his hand. Similarly Black Adam emerges from the rubble in the fight with JSA. I will try to get the comparing gifs over the weekend.
newhire13
newhire13 - 11/24/2022, 8:08 AM
@MisterDoctor217 - Huh? The only thing they had in common was that they're black superheroes.
MisterDoctor217
MisterDoctor217 - 11/24/2022, 12:10 PM
@MochaKing -

Yes I agree ! Many action beats and scenes were borrowed from other superhero movies, like not influenced, not inspired , but borrowed and sometimes copied lol
TheOtherOn
TheOtherOn - 11/24/2022, 1:59 PM
@MisterDoctor217 - I think you are confusing Black Adam with literally last dozen movies from MCU when it comes to repeating jokes, action scenes, scripts (or the lack of good scripts!) and the major plot points of every movie.

MisterDoctor217
MisterDoctor217 - 11/24/2022, 3:49 PM
@TheOtherOn -
Yeah some MCU movies have done the same.
But Black Adam didn’t even try to hide it xD it was a blatant amalgamation lol
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 11/24/2022, 9:25 PM
@MisterDoctor217 -



MisterDoctor217
MisterDoctor217 - 11/24/2022, 10:32 PM
@DrReedRichards -

Dude yes!! Exactly! I’m surprised no one is talking more about this
Other superhero movies have also had the same beats and similar stories but not like this, it’s like Dwayne literally wanted to copy every single element of the MCU and apply to DC, wasn’t even subtle about it lol
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