“Black Adam 2” isn’t coming: Do we still see Dwayne Johnson as a DC hero?

For 15 years, Dwayne Johnson has fought to bring Black Adam to the big screen. In the end it worked, but the hoped-for mega hit failed to materialize. There’s been a lot of debate in recent weeks, including one sparked by Johnson himself, about whether Black Adam is a flop or at least a small win for Studio Warner. With a pure production budget that would be somewhere between $190 and $260 million, huge marketing costs and the levies on ticket sales to the cinemas, the worldwide box office result of $391 million points more towards the former.

A sequel that should actually be launched as soon as possible was therefore already in the balance. And in the course of the current upheavals in the film and series division of comics giant DC, it is now clear: Black Adam 2 isn’t coming, at least not anytime soon. Like Dwayne Johnson personally via explained, another appearance of the antihero is not part of the plans for “the first chapter” of the new DC universewhich new DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran are working on.

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No more surprise

It is no longer surprising that “Black Adam 2” is canceled for the time being. Apart from the box office result, which did not live up to expectations, this was also evident from the previous information about Gunn and Safran’s upcoming DCU, which will probably be a certain departure from the previous DCEU, which was once brought to life by Zack Snyder.

For example, Henry Cavill’s planned major comeback as Superman has already been canceled yet again, taking another major workhorse for a sequel to “Black Adam” out of the running. After all, Cavill made a surprise appearance as Man Of Steel at the end of “Black Adam,” effectively positioning him as the title character’s next antagonist in the sequel. But nothing is happening now.

Will Dwayne Johnson still return as Black Adam?

So while things look worse than ever for Black Adam 2, another Dwayne Johnson appearance as Teth-Adam isn’t entirely out of the question. Instead of his own movie, he might be part of another project, as Johnson also hints in his tweet, in which he also has nothing but kind words for his fans, his movie, and James Gunn: “DC and [Johnsons Produktionsfirma] Seven Bucks agreed to keep looking for the most valuable ways Black Adam can be used in future chapters of the DC Multiverse.“

This glimmer of hope was later confirmed by James Gunn himself on Twitter, sharing Johnson’s post, writing: “I love The Rock and always look forward to what he and Seven Bucks do next. Can’t wait to work together soon .”

It is still unclear what exactly this collaboration will look like. With all the DC innovations, it would also be conceivable that Dwayne Johnson could take on another role in the new comic cosmos, as is currently the case with Henry Cavill and even Jason Momoa (for the time after the upcoming “Aquaman 2” ) is rumored.

As committed as Johnson is to Black Adam and fought for the character’s big screen debut, it’s hard to imagine. It’s therefore more likely that the anti-hero will one day make the jump from the DCEU (which will likely be more and more distant) to the new DCU and possibly an ensemble movie there via said multiverse.

However, it doesn’t sound like it’s part of the initial DC plans that James Gunn and Peter Safran plan to announce in early 2023. And anyway Despite all the statements and commitments, there is also the very concrete possibility that Johnson will never play Black Adam again.

Depending on how long “the first chapter” of the new DC universe lasts, it will be a few years before the second chapter and thus a possible Black Adam comeback. And will The Rock really don the superhero costume again in six, eight or ten years after “Black Adam” was already a hit?