Dwayne Johnson Reacts to Henry Cavill Leaving the DC Universe: We “Put Our Best Foot Forward”

Henry Cavill had a rough 2022. The actor left his hit Netflix show The Witcher for what looked like a bright future in the DC universe. But after making a post-credits appearance in Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam, Cavill’s DC run was cut short.

Cavill’s appearance in Black Adam set up what could have been a blockbuster movie franchise for the two stars. But with Cavill out as Superman, any hopes for more were dashed. 

Johnson, who worked for 15 years to get Black Adam made, finally addressed this on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday (March 12).

“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,” he said, per Variety.

“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,’” Johnson said.

Variety reported in January that sources claimed Johnson “directly pitched CEO David Zaslav on a multiyear plan for Black Adam and a Cavill-led Superman in which the two properties would interweave, setting up a Superman-versus-Black Adam showdown.” But any plans for Black Adam were also put on hold as James Gunn and Peter Safran ushered in this new era for DC Studios. 

Johnson announced in December that “Black Adam will not be in their first chapter of storytelling” but that his production company Seven Bucks and DC Studios “have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized.” 

Gunn echoed a similar sentiment in his own statement announcing Cavill’s exit from his role. “Our story will be focusing on an earlier part of Superman’s life, so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill,” Gunn announced in a tweet last December. “But we just had a great meeting with Henry and we’re big fans and we talked about a number of exciting possibilities to work together in the future.” 

Gunn and Safran have since announced the roster of projects that are in the works as part of DC Studios’ reinvention. Among them is Superman: Legacy, scheduled for 2025, which Safran says is “not an origin story” for the character, but focuses on a younger Superman who is “balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.”

There is also a Green Lantern television series called Lanterns and a Game of Thrones-style HBO drama about Themyscira, Wonder Woman’s birthplace.

But Johnson and Gunn’s open-ended statements hint that we can still possibly see more from Black Adam and Superman. Even if DC plans on focusing on a younger Superman character, there might still be room for Cavill in the DC universe.

However, it’s also worth noting that many of DC’s current projects are set for 2025 and on, which means any planned comebacks would happen some ways from now. 

Maybe it’s time for Cavill and Johnson to play superheroes outside of Marvel or DC. Those aren’t the only studios who can make superheroes come to life. Wouldn’t we all love to see Cavill on The Boys?