Two months ago, Dwayne Johnson made his long-awaited debut as the DC Extended Universe’s Black Adam, with the character battling the Justice Society after being asleep for over 5,000 years. Unfortuately for The Rock and fans of his version of the Kahndaqian antihero, it was announced that a Black Adam sequel will not be part of the “first chapter of storytelling” that DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran are putting together for this new DC Films era. Fresh off that news being announced, it’s been shared that Johnson’s Black Adam allegedly missed out on appearing in one of the especially big upcoming DC movies.
Next summer will see the release of The Flash, arriving in between Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Blue Beetle. While this will be the first opportunity for Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen to take center stage following his minor appearances in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, as well as being in the ensemble cast for both versions of Justice League, other notable DC characters not directly tied to the Scarlet Speedster will be popping in. The Wrap reporter Umberto Gonzalez shared on Twitter that Black Adam had the opportunity to be part of this roster, but Seven Bucks Productions president Hiram Garica, who produced the Black Adam movie alongside Johnson, Dany Garcia and Beau Flynn, “politely declined” having The Rock made a cameo appearance when The Flash was “originally shooting.”
Assuming this information is legitimate, right off the bat, it’s not like Dwayne Johnson would have had a major role in The Flash. Whether we would have seen the main Black Adam or a version of him from an altered timeline or different reality, he would have been in and out pretty quickly. As for why Hiram Garcia, who founded Seven Bucks Productions with Johnson, turned down having the actor appear in The Flash, that’s unclear. Maybe it was simply due to scheduling conflicts, but it’s also possible that Garcia felt that if Black Adam were to appear in The Flash, it should be in a major capacity rather than a cameo.
Whatever the reasoning, because this The Flash cameo was turned down, that means Black Adam will remain the title character’s sole cinematic appearance… for now. While Black Adam 2 isn’t in the cards right now, Dwayne Johnson did say that DC and Seven Bucks have “agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters.” James Gunn added in his own tweet that he’s looking forward to collaborating with Johnson in the future, so just because there’s no movement on Black Adam in the immediate future doesn’t mean there won’t be eventually.
Looking back to The Flash, as already noted, audiences won’t be lacking for special appearances. Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton are reprising their incarnations of Batman, Sasha Calle will appear as Supergirl, and Michael Shannon and Antje Traue will be respectively back as General Zod and Faora-Ul. The Flash’s cast also includes Kiersey Clemons, Ron Livingston and Maribel Verdú, while behind the scenes, Andy Muschietti directed and Christina Hodson wrote the script.
The Flash speeds into theaters on June 16, 2023. Black Adam, along with many other DC movies, can be streamed with an HBO Max subscription.
