The Rock Aired His Disappointment On The DC Universe’s Superman Mess After He Helped Get Henry Cavill Back In The Suit
In the days leading up to the release of Black Adam, and in the weeks that followed, The Rock talked a very big game about bringing back Henry Cavill as Superman and building up to a film where the Man of Steel would go toe-to-toe with The Rock’s Black Adam. It certainly helped that Cavill announced he was back following his barely secret cameo in Black Adam, and The Rock made it a point to note that he personally fought Warner Bros. to make Cavill’s return happen.
And then it all fell apart.
A few weeks after Cavill touted his return, incoming DC Studios chief James Gunn announced that he’s moving forward with a new Superman movie. That film, now known as Superman: Legacy, would star a younger actor (a.k.a. not Henry Cavill), and just like that, it was over. Gunn would also meet with The Rock and the two would release cordial statements saying Black Adam 2 is still a possibility, but just not in Gunn’s Chapter 1 of the DC Universe.
Since then, The Rock has been quiet on the matter, but while attending Sunday’s night Oscar, he opened up about watching Cavill’s return as Superman fall apart despite the Black Adam star’s best efforts. Via 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,” 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.’”
To his credit, Gunn has been candid about the Cavill situation, which he blamed on studio execs and possibly even The Rock himself.
“I like Henry, I think he’s a great guy,” Gunn said during the press event for his DC Universe Chapter 1 plans. “I think he’s getting dicked around by a lot of people, including the former regime at this company. But this Superman is not Henry, for a number of reasons.”
(Via Variety)