The long-awaited DC Universe “Black Adam” superhero film premiered recently in New York, the review embargo has been lifted (read our review here), and everyone is free, per Warner Bros., to discuss the film in whatever terms they like. If you’re online, especially on Twitter, you’ve likely already heard all about the film’s post-credit scene, what that means for the future of the DC Universe, and more.
So yes, **SPOILERS ABOUND,** if you don’t want to know, please turn around, and wait until the film comes out. And just in case you want to get mad at us about this, know that Dwayne Johnson has already talked about this already at Cinemablend and several other outlets by now.
We recently spoke to Johnson over Zoom about “Black Adam,” a thunderous, anti-hero comic book film set in the DC Universe, and the charismatic star who has been pushing the film up a mountain since 2008-ish, talked about how his faith never wavered in the project. Of course, his interest in the film and character dates back even further than the new DC Universe that started in 2013 with “Man Of Steel.”
“Dude, I was ready to go the distance with ‘Black Adam,’” Johnson said of his belief in the character. “We had discussed this 2008, 2009, as you said, and then about ten years ago it started to feel like maybe ‘Black Adam’ [wasn’t] the priority to them that I feel it is to me.”
Johnson admitted that at one point during the process, Warner Bros. came back to him and asked him if there were any other DC characters he was interested in, and he said a hard no, “I said, No, to be honest with you, no, thank you for asking. The answer is no, , it’s Black Adam.”
READ MORE: ‘Black Adam’ Review: The Rock’s Passion Project Is A Drab Slog Through Superhero Clichés
Johnson called it “a long, arduous fight and journey” to get the movie made and to get its special post-credit scene to happen (more on that later), but noted through and through that, he’s a DC guy first. “I like Marvel a lot, and they’re all my friends,” he said, “But I love DC, man, I love Batman, I love Superman, I love Wonder Woman, I love these characters, but just take a look past him and look in the DC Bible and there are so many cool, badass, fun complex characters that we can deliver to the world.”
To that end, looking past the DC trinity meant, for Johnson, looking at characters like the Justice Society Of America, a precursor to the Justice League in the comics and lesser known but still beloved by the fans.
“It was a little bit of a battle,” Johnson said of he and his Seven Bucks production company convincing Warner Bros. to let them use the Justice Society—Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Atom Smasher, and Cyclone— in the film. He explained, “Because no one had a reference, the world didn’t know who the JSA was except if you’re like us and you knew the comics and the mythology. So again, we’re gonna fight . [Laughs]”
Honestly, I danced around the post-credit of it all, alluding to the character within our conversation, worried about spoilers, but then Johnson asked me directly, “What did I think of that scene at the end?”
And well, there’s just no avoiding that now, right? *So, final warning on spoilers. Please turn around if you don’t want to know*
So, what did I think of the post-credit scene at the end with Henry Cavill returning as Superman—the details of how and why I’ll avoid for now in “Black Adam” and seemingly pointing to his return to the DC Universe after a six-year absence?
Well, personally, I don’t want them to recast at all, and I think Cavill makes for a great Superman, and I told Johnson that exactly (though quickly as time was running out). I also suggested that Johnson himself was instrumental in making that cameo happen.
“Oh, that was a fight I wasn’t gonna lose, man,” he said emphatically. “It was about a year-and-a-half, a two-year fight, but we did it.”
More from this interview this week, but yes, the cat is out of the bag. “Black Adam” is in theaters in wide release on October 21.
