Dwayne Johnson was responsible for Henry Cavill's Superman cameo in Black Adam, even though the past regime at Warner Bros. wanted to recast the character. With James Gunn's announcement of a Superman reboot under Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Johnson's desire to do right by fans did not amount to much in the end.
Superman hasn’t technically been seen on the big screen since the controversial Whedon cut of Justice League from 2017, as Zack Snyder's Justice League, the director's true version of the film, released on HBO MAX 4 years later. As a result of creative differences between Zack Snyder and the studio and differences between executives internally, Warner Bros. was sitting on Superman for almost 6 years without any plans to bring him back until Johnson arrived. However, the actor negotiated the Black Adam cameo in a way that didn’t sit well with certain top executives.
A Variety article sheds light on the ongoing internal struggles at Warner Bros. Discovery regarding how to best manage the franchise, reportedly through unnamed sources close to the studio. However, those struggles are now orchestrated to revolve around Johnson, as the actor was reported to “go around everyone” with the intent of pitching a multi-year plan to Zaslav that included “Black Adam and a Cavill-led Superman in which the two properties would interweave, setting up a Superman-versus-Black Adam showdown.” The negotiations were eventually approved by new Warner Bros. film co-heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, despite former Warner Bros. film chief Toby Emmerich wanting another actor for Superman in 2018, which would explain the trajectory of the franchise and lack of Superman content since then.
Warner Bros. did not see eye to eye with Snyder, nor did the studio agree with Johnson's Superman vs Black Adam plan, which the Variety article blames on diminishing returns. It was previously reported that Emmerich's successor, Walter Hamada, had plans for Superman that involved saving the character for a Crisis event. However, 6 years since Justice League, there had been no mention of this plan until after Hamada's departure, which still doesn’t explain why Superman couldn’t have been used until the alleged plan came to fruition.
To further this, Cyborg actor Ray Fisher made allegations of misconduct against Hamada, this being only one incident in a series of mistrust between execs, actors, and directors since the beginning of the DCEU franchise, eventually leading to the recent Batgirl cancelation, the firing of Cavill after joyfully announcing his return, and these recent reports of Johnson that frame the actor in a negative light.
Black Adam is currently available on HBO Max.
Source: Variety