Dwayne Johnson comments on Henry Cavill’s DC Exit

After Black Adam revealed hints for a future Superman crossover, plans changed when DC looked to a new direction without Henry Cavill’s Superman, and Dwayne Johnson weighing in.

Black Adam provided a tease to a crossover between the man of steel himself, Superman, with Black Adam in a future project, leaving audiences anxiously anticipating what was to come of a potential film covering how the two would interact.

However, those plans came to a halt in light of the news that Cavill was not in the picture for future DC projects.

Although around the time of Black Adam’s release in October 2022, as Den of Geek shared, “Cavill made it very clear that he wanted to don the blue and red tights once again, albeit this time as a ‘joyful’ Superman.” Insiders also believed that DC was ready to continue with Cavil’s story as Superman.

However, that did not turn out to be the case. The DC Extended Universe is looking to be revamped, and in doing so, Cavill has exited DC sharing, the “sad news” that he will not be returning as Superman.

When it comes to the upcoming Superman Legacy that will be written by James Gunn, who with Peter Safran is one of the new co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios, Gunn confirmed that Cavill was not fired from DC but that he was, “…never cast. He was in a cameo and that was the end of his story.”

He went on to say, “A lot of people made assumptions which weren’t true…But for me it’s about who do I want to cast as Superman and who do the filmmakers want to cast,” thus further confirming the entire DCU is being revamped, with plans for Superman Legacy focusing on a younger Superman.

Cavill shared the information, which was a turn from the prior news he received from the studio that announced his return in October prior to the hire of Gunn and Safran, adding that, “this news isn’t the easiest, but that’s life. The changing of the guard is something that happened,” and praised the ride he’s been on.

Black Adam himself, Dwayne Johnson, weighed in on his feelings on Black Adam and Cavil’s exit as Superman, initially focusing more on Black Adam itself as a film and the cast and crew who brought it to life.

Johnson told Variety, “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…Our audience score was in the 90s. Critics took a couple shots, but that’s just the business of it.”

Johnson soon brought it back to the changing of the guard at DC with a football analogy. He explained that it is, “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.”

Cavill’s exit especially affects Johnson since the Superman tease with Black Adam was to be the beginning of a Black Adam DC Universe, generating multiple inter-connected films.

As Variety shared, Black Adam had a tepid box office, failing to, “make it to the $400 million mark worldwide.” With the box office performance and a change of heads at DC, the odds were stacked against a new Black Adam universe.

Prior to the release of Black Adam, Johnson and Hiram Garcia, his producing partner, frequently touted a potential face-off between Black Adam and Cavill’s Superman, with Garcia sharing, “We really want to craft a long-form of storytelling and show that these two characters exist in the same universe and are going to have to deal with each other often, either on the same or opposite sides.”

When asked about the potential Superman meetup, Johnson told CinemaBlend in October, “Absolutely. That is the whole point of this man.”

After the news of Cavill’s exit, things obviously changed. Johnson shared with fans in December, “James Gunn and I connected, and Black Adam will not be in their first chapter of storytelling …However, DC and Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters.”

Unfortunately, it looks like fans will have to wait longer if it were to even happen, to see Black Adam and Superman in the same universe again.