All it took for Dwayne Johnson to realize his six-year dream of having Henry Cavill return as Superman to make a cameo appearance in Black Adam was a corporate merger and a complete overhaul of the boardroom, with the A-list icon eventually getting his wish when the project ended up under new management.
Having given the game away a long time ago, nobody’s exactly going to be shocked should they stick around for the post-credits scene, with Warner Bros. even getting in on the act by spoiling the surprise ahead of the film’s release in theaters today. It was a long time coming, but should Black Adam tear the box office a new one, then all that “hierarchy of power” talk will turn out to be right on the money.
In an interview with Collider, the star and producer dug deep into what needed to happen to convince the DCEU’s canonical Kal-El to make his first appearance in costume since Joss Whedon’s Justice League reshoots wrapped in the summer of 2017, with The Rock so confident that it would tear the house down he told the studio they could feel free to cut the scene if it didn’t generate the desired reaction.
“It got to a point where collectively, I want to say myself, Danny and Hiram, we said, “Here’s how the movie should end. And I’ll give you one further, test it, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll never talk about it again. Test it.” We shot it, to their credit, new leadership. Know who I’m talking about? New leadership. They saw it and said, “We don’t even have to test it.”
Only the old regime would operate under the impression that bringing back a massively popular figure fans had been demanding to see return to the screen for half a decade might not land as intended, but Warner Bros. is under new management now – and they look to have their finger right on the pulse of giving the people what they want.