Why Black Adam 2 won’t happen

Dwayne Johnson‘s Black Adam is having an unexpected new lease of life on streaming. The DC antihero blockbuster has flown to the top of Prime Video‘s charts, two years after flopping at the box office and receiving a critical panning.

Johnson flexes his muscles as the titular Black Adam in 2022’s Shazam! spin off, which DC bosses hoped would launch a new franchise. Its post-credit scene even teased a showdown with Henry Cavill’s Superman in a possible Black Adam 2.

But things didn’t go as planned. The film received a critics’ score of 39% on Rotten Tomatoes, and failed to break even after its budget ballooned to a reported $260m (£208m).

The costly flop means lightning won’t strike twice for Johnson. Here’s everything the actor has said about why Black Adam 2 was canned.

Why won’t there be a Black Adam 2?

Black Adam arrived in cinemas in October 2022, having been in the works since the early 2000s. Johnson had high hopes for his take on the character, declaring: “The hierarchy of power in the DC universe is about to change.”

The much-anticipated movie, helmed by director Jaume Collet-Serra, needed to earn around $600m (£479m) at the global box office to break even. However, it failed to cross the $400m (£320m) mark, becoming one of 2022’s biggest box office flops.

Just weeks after its release, James Gunn and Peter Safran were installed as DC Studio’s new bosses. They overhauled the studio’s slate, cancelling plans for projects including Man of Steel 2 and Wonder Woman 3.

Gunn and Safran’s rebooted DC Universe will kick off with 2025’s Superman, with David Corenswet replacing Cavill as Kal-El. There will be no room for Black Adam on first part of the slate, which has been dubbed Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.

“James Gunn and I connected, and Black Adam will not be in their first chapter of storytelling,” Johnson wrote in a statement in December 2022. “However, DC and [production company] Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilised in future DC multiverse chapters.”

In response, Gunn wrote, “Love @TheRock & I’m always excited to see what he & Seven Bucks do next. Can’t wait to collaborate soon.”

Johnson later said the decision to axe Black Adam 2 “will always be one of the biggest mysteries”. Appearing on talk show Hart to Hart, he said: “Black Adam got caught in a vortex of new leadership… You have the biggest opening of your career. Sure, no [release in] China, which could’ve been maybe 100 or 200 million more dollars.

“You have a superhero and you want to grow out the franchise. You bring back Superman and Henry Cavill, which the world went crazy. And we created a diverse superhero portfolio, where we have just men and women of colour in Black Adam.”

Who is in the Black Adam cast?

As mentioned above, Johnson leads the way in Black Adam, aka Teth-Adam, who returns to the mortal realm from a magical prison. Johnson’s live-action arrival was first teased with a voice cameo in 2022’s animated DC League of Super-Pets.

Born as a slave in the nation of Kahndaq, Teth-Adam found fame as the nation’s Champion. Instead of using his powers for good, Teth-Adam took on the moniker of Black Adam and turned to the dark side by releasing a group of demons known as the Seven Deadly Sins.

James Bond’s Pierce Brosnan stars as Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate, a sorcerer superhero who is part of the Justice Society of America. His fellow members are Al Rothstein/Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) and Maxine Hunkel/Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell).

Aladdin’s Marwan Kenzari is the villanois Ishmael Gregor/Sabbac, who leads the criminal organisation known as Intergang.

The L Word’s Sarah Shahi plays university professor and freedom fighter Adrianna Tomaz, while Oscar winner Viola Davis reprises her Suicide Squad role as Amanda Waller.

Black Adam is streaming on Prime Video