Heroes don't kill people.
Well, I do.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is arguably one
of the biggest movie stars on the face of the planet.
However, even his charisma couldn't
save the sagging and lethargic DC Comics movie universe.
In fact, the box office failure of Black Adam
and the Rock's behind the scenes maneuvering
has essentially directly contributed
to the fall of the DCEU.
But before we get too deep into today's episode,
please like, comment, and subscribe to Nerdstalgic
in order to stay up to date with everything we have going on.
And also, there will be some spoilers for Black Adam ahead.
I know you have a lot to catch up on.
Move.
My mom said you took out a bunch of [INAUDIBLE] gang soldiers
in the desert.
Because they wouldn't move out of my way.
Created by CC Beck and Otto Binder
and first appearing in the Marvel Family Number One
from December of 1945, Black Adam
has become a staple of the Captain Marvel universe.
Originally created as a superpowered Egyptian
antagonist for the Big Red Cheese,
the character has been evolved over the years
to be a more morally gray complex and interesting
opponent for the DC Universe as a whole.
Believe it or not, development on Black Adam as a feature film
dates all the way back to the early 2000s,
when New Line Cinema was developing a Shazam movie that
would have featured Teth Adam as the primary villain.
Peter Segal, known for Tommy Boy and 50 First Dates,
signed on to direct the film in April of 2006.
And The Rock was approached to play not Black Adam,
but Captain Marvel himself.
While we're on the topic of Captain Marvel
and his relationship to other superheroes,
you should probably check out our video
on the strange reason there are two Captain Marvels.
Link in the description below.
While The Rock never officially signed
on to this version of the project,
rumors persisted that he would be involved.
By 2009, the film had stalled out and run aground,
but it would only be a few short years later in April of 2014
when The Rock would officially announce
that he had signed onto the project in the role
as the villain, Black Adam.
But here's where things start to go south.
In January of 2017, The Rock asked
to meet Geoff Johns, then one of the primary figures
in the unfolding DCEU, about concerns with the Shazam
script.
To put it simply, The Rock felt like he
had risen too dramatically in popularity
since his initial 2009 circling of the project
to become a villain in a superhero film.
He wanted to be the star.
He wanted Black Adam to be the star specifically,
but the movie was about Captain Marvel.
So there was only one option-- remove
Black Adam from the film, save him for a sequel down the line,
and give him his own feature film
to really explore the character's
motivations and complex history.
And that's exactly what the DC execs decided to do.
Not only is this a flawed idea on its surface
in the context of making a good Shazam movie,
but it's also a major misstep when
you're trying to build a movie universe of interconnected
characters.
Black Adam is the main villain for Captain Marvel.
It's like trying to build a movie
universe around the X-Men, but saving
Magneto for his own film.
Your characters are never tested, never forced
to develop and grow.
A hero is only as good as his dark mirror reflection,
and a film should tell the story of how
your hero is tested beyond anything
in their wildest dreams.
They should be pushed to the brink
and challenged so that their character
arc over the course of the two hours feels like it's earned.
I can have anything I've ever wanted?
No!
[LAUGHING]
So now that the long gestating Black Adam film has finally
been released, has Dwayne Johnson
changed the hierarchy of power in the DCEU?
No, not particularly.
What he did was produce, creatively shepherd,
and star in a pretty mediocre superhero movie
that's more notable for its behind the scenes journey
than for anything it actually put on screen.
The film itself centers on the fictional nation of Kahndaq,
which has been invaded by a colonial force
named Intergang that is strip mining
the country of its natural resources
and cultural heritage.
We follow a small group of well-meaning archaeologists
as they attempt to find a mystical crown.
They're racing against the clock to locate it
before Intergang can get their hands on it when
they're saved by an ancient warrior named Teth Adam.
He's cool, brooding, and, thanks to a backstory that
has a surprise twist that you can
see coming from 75 miles away, now
also has the power of Shazam.
Overall, paper thin characterization,
needlessly omnipresent slow-mo, and the Rock's
obvious insistence that every line he
says be either a one-liner or a trailer worthy retort
leave the film a completely forgettable slog that
cost roughly $260 million before marketing.
Put me down!
You should really be more careful with your word choice
next time.
The film does such a disservice to beloved characters
like Dr. Fate, Hawkman, and Black Adam
that it never even connects the fact that all of them
share origins in ancient Egypt and Egyptian influenced
cultures.
From the jump, the film's marketing
leaned into its connections to the broader DCEU as a whole,
literally starting with clips from Justice League.
In the lead-up to the film's release,
the Rock went on a tear, all but confirming
that Henry Cavill would cameo in the project as Superman.
But even the return of Superman and a proper announcement
from the man himself stating that he would return soon
in Man of Steel 2 was not enough to score Black Adam
a major win at the box office.
And here's where things start to get even more dicey.
The Hollywood Reporter debuted a story
announcing that David Zaslav had selected two people to fill
the Kevin Feige role at DC--
James Gunn and Peter Safran.
In the following weeks, it became very clear
that Gunn and Safran were going to be cleaning house,
reshaping the DC Comics movie universe,
and possibly even abandoning many
of the successful remnants of the initial phases of the DCEU.
Gunn and Safran have opted to not pursue Wonder Woman 3,
despite Patty Jenkins and Jeff Johns turning
in a fresh outline.
They've opted to cancel a purported Batman Beyond movie,
and they've opted to not bring Henry Cavill back for Man
of Steel 2, despite his end credits appearance
in Black Adam.
From the outside, it looks like Black Adam
was the death knell of the DC Comics
cinematic extended universe it's pretty clear
that from a corporate position, they're
going to pivot to focusing on the marquee branded name
characters like the Trinity and Flash,
and that post-Flash, which is going to act like a crossover
event and set a new status quo, they're
going to start building out a new DCU with a cohesive plan.
So what will ultimately happen with Flash, Aquaman 2,
and the other odds and ends that are holdovers from the DCEU?
Now everyone's kind of like doing their own thing,
and I'm the only one trying to keep it together.
That's anyone's guess, but ultimately, Black Adam
seems like the concrete evidence that David Zaslav
and the other DC execs were looking for-- stop
putting resources into characters
that aren't universally known.
Focus on building out a cohesive universe first and foremost,
and keep the levers of power inside the DC
corporate hierarchy.
For the newly reborn DC movie universe to succeed,
they need people who are willing to play
ball and focus on growing the brand
of the universe as a whole.
Look at how Robert Downey, Jr. serviced the MCU.
He appeared in cameo after cameo in order
to bolster the burgeoning universe.
And at the end of the day, he was rewarded handsomely
for his efforts.
It's fair to say that The Rock's ego played a large part of how
the rollout for Black Adam was handled
and was a substantial element in the project's failure
to connect with audiences.
Going forward, the new DC Cinematic Universe
needs to be rooted in a commitment to the characters
first and foremost.
That's how you get audiences to fall in love with them.
And that's how you build an overarching universe-- a lesson
the comics learned a long time ago.
And that's all we have for you to this episode.
So what do you think?
Will we see the Rock in phase two of the newly rebooted DC
Universe?
Let us know your thoughts down below.
And as always, like, comment, and subscribe to Nerdstalgic
to stay up to date with everything we've got going on.