A story from The Wrap claims that Dwayne Johnson could have sabotaged the dc universe trying to take control of the universe and his decisions could also be partly responsible for the poor performance of ‘Shazam! the wrath of the gods’ at the box office. But the biggest revelations are that he outright banned Shazam’s cameo in 2022’s “Black Adam,” which he starred in, as well as the Justice League appearing in Zachary Levi’s sequel.
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mindless indolent whims
But the story goes back a long way and has a lot to do with Johnson’s inordinate ego. Already in 2022, the actor refused to publicly acknowledge that ‘Black Adam’ was not the mega-success that Warner Bros. and DC expected, after having tweeted that he was “building his new franchise one step at a time,” celebrating that his film would earn between $52 million and $72 million. To reach that performance he would have first had to hit $425 million just to not lose, and he ended up earning $391 globally.
Waited to confirm with financiers before I shared this excellent #blackadam news – our film will PROFIT between $52M-$72M.
Invoice
At almost $400M worldwide we are building our new franchise step by step (first Captain America did $370M) for the DC future.https://t.co/GBIgsbtnkq—Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) December 7, 2022
Johnson is a Hollywood superstar almost infallible in his business and it seems that failure is not in his plans, but his time at DC is a chronicle of bad decisions that, in addition to leading to the cancellation of ‘Black Adam 2’, affected ‘Shazam 2’ ‘ enormously. James Gunn will have a new vision of the DC Universe in 2025, but in the meantime, Warner Bros. and DC have to deal with the remaining vestiges of the Snyderverse and the box office numbers of the last ones are so disappointing that they seem to confirm the closure of an era.
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The Zachary Levi-starring sequel was affected by pressures to reorganize the DC universe around Black Adam, who sought to change “the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe.” The Rock began playing the role of studio executive, going over the top of then-DC Films president Walter Hamada to secure a superman cameo by Henry Cavill, he wanted to establish a battle between the two characters, leaving the initial plans in a tertiary plane.
The marketing of ‘Shazam: The Fury of Gods’ could have been very different
This failed attempt to bring the Man of Steel back into DC, which could have even affected ‘The Witcher’ when it was confirmed that it wasn’t going to, came at the expense of a planned post-credits scene in which Zachary’s Shazam Levi he was recruited for the Justice Society of America, which would have created a different emotion in front of ‘Shazam: the fury of the gods’. The article has statements from a “high-ranking Hollywood executive” quoted as saying:
“Dwayne tries to sell himself as bigger than the movie. He’s one of the few people who always thinks he’s the most important person. The crux of it all boils down to a stated desire on Johnson’s part to build his own brand even at the expense of undermining his own films and other franchises related to them. When he decided he was going to be the center of the DC Universe it required a showdown with Superman”
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Johnson also vetoed the use of ‘Black Adam’ actors in the post-credits scene that would have Shazam coming face to face with Black Adam, which now has ‘Peacemaker’ actors Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee. According to a “Hollywood insider” to The Wrap,
“by alienating the established ownership from which his character was born and refusing to integrate with other established characters, [Johnson] systematically crippled two franchises and hurt DC in the process.”
A more personal problem than it seems
After the publication of this report, Zachary Levi made a post on instagram that confirms all the key points of the text, immolating himself in some way within the past or future DC universe, but discovering that it was expressly prohibited in his appearance in Black Adam, something that comes from afar and that has several explanations.
Zachary Levy confirms the story that @TheRock I act like a diva when it was #blackadam. Apparently the actor forgot who his nemesis is in the comics, lmao. pic.twitter.com/2VnRbibU9B
— DC Unlimited (@DCEUMX) March 21, 2023
Dwayne Johnson had problems with Zachary Levi since the first ‘Shazam!’. Warner Bros. Discovery always wanted to link the two characters, since Black Adam is closely related to Shazam, but The Rock claimed that his character “would not fit” into the childish theme of Shazam!, but in reality, people from the company affirmed that In fact, insiders mentioned that the actor had problems directly with Levi, since he did not consider him “someone relevant.”
Black Adam is stated to be reason why 7 deadly sins were released in Shazam but it was never brought up at all in the Black Adam movie pic.twitter.com/Pu3wd9F3sg
— Impulse (@Impulse785) March 21, 2023
Besides Johnson didn’t want Black Adam to be a villain, and Zachary Levi’s Shazam to be the hero, even though this was already brought up in the first Shazam, where there were references to Black Adam’s role as an evil force. the wizard tells Billy that they chose a champion who betrayed him, who originally released the 7 Deadly Sins. In fact, at the end of the story, the Marvel Family realizes that there is a spare seat on the Rock of Eternity, which would correspond to Black Adam. However, Dwayne Johnson bypassed all of this and altered Black Adam’s origin story, so it wouldn’t tie into the movie. Zachary Levi. The recipe for disaster.
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The news
They blame Dwayne Johnson’s ego for the failure of ‘Black Adam’ and ‘Shazam 2’, and Zachary Levi confirms the rumors: “The truth shall set you free”
was originally posted on
Espinof
by Jorge Loser.