Important: This article contains spoilers. “Black Adam”
After promising for years that this would happen, “Black Adam” would upend the hierarchy of the DC cinematic universe, Dwayne Johnson made good with a credits scene that brought his anti-hero face to face with DC’s most powerful hero, Superman. But this Superman is not the only one. Henry Cavill’s Superman.
It’s the first time Cavill has suited up as the Man of Steel since the long production of “Justice League”In 2016 and 2017, respectively. It comes as a boon to fans of Cavill’s iteration of the character after murmurs that Superman was going to be rebooted and the actor’s tenure had concluded.
But putting Cavill’s Superman in “Black Adam” wasn’t as easy as pulling the cape out of storage. Producer Hiram Garcia tells there was pushback to bringing Cavill’s iteration of the character back, canonically continuing his story and potentially getting fans riled up for a proper “Man of Steel” sequel to happen after all. Garcia reiterates this important point, but Garcia is more important: Cavill was ready to return in the tights. Jahre.
“That is something that we were relentless on, from all different angles – me and Dwayne and Beau [Flynn], Dany [Garcia] has worked tirelessly from her end especially having worked with Henry,” Garcia said of the battle to get approval for Cavill’s cameo, nodding to sister Dany Garcia who is co-founder and co-owner of Seven Bucks Productions and also Cavill’s manager.
“It was just relentless, I’m sure borderline extremely annoying for some of our partners, but we knew what the fans wanted, we knew what we wanted, and we just would not stop because we really wanted to deliver what we felt the whole world wanted, and what we felt was the proper moment for the character of Black Adam arriving in the DC universe.”
In the film’s post-credits scene, Johnson’s character gets a message from Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) that he’s not to leave the country, at which point Superman arrives and suggests the two of them should talk.
Black Adam and Superman are often enemies in DC Comics. This results in physical fireworks every time they go to war. This is something fans have been hoping to see onscreen ever since Johnson signed on to play Black Adam, and clearly it’s something he and the entire Seven Bucks Productions team is eager to see come to fruition. Garcia claims that everyone was happy with the final outcome, despite the fact that it was difficult for them to actually get onscreen together.
“It required a lot of work, a lot of conversations, a lot of kind of maneuvering to ultimately achieve it,” Garcia – who serves as president of production at Seven Bucks Productions – continued. “But I will say that once we finally did it, it was such a special moment and our partners were like, ‘You know, this is so fantastic.’ They were just so happy with how it turned out.”
Cavill’s future as Superman has been the subject of speculation for the last few years, with a Superman cameo happening at the end of 2019’s “Shazam!” but with the character’s face obscured, leading some to assume this was a signal that the role might be recast.
Garcia claims that Cavill is ready to be re-elected as Superman. “the whole time,” adding, “I know he’s been game and hungry for this from Day 1.”
The producer recalled flying out to London for the super-secret shoot of Cavill’s cameo, relaying just how giddy the actor was to be getting back into costume.
“I flew out to London for that day to meet with Henry to speak to him about it as we prepared for it,” Garcia began. “And I remember when I got over there I was texting him like, ‘Hey man, let’s go over the scene and how we’re gonna play through this,’ and I remember he was just like, ‘Hey don’t come in just yet, give me a minute,’ and I’m like, ‘OK.’ And then he’s like, ‘OK, I’m ready, come in,’ and I will love him forever for this. When I came in he wanted to make sure that he was Superman, and I came into that trailer and he was fully in costume and it was like, there was the Superman of our generation. I could see it in his face, he was elated. I was beside myself and we were like, we’re finally here. Because for years we’ve spoken about this, for years this was a vision and a dream.”
Garcia stated that the energy was electric on set that day and Cavill agreed. “became the character instantly.”
“I think when you see it, you just can’t help but smile because you realize that that’s the guy, and there’s a reason why everyone’s wanted to see him back.”
While no formal plans for the future of Cavill’s Superman have been announced, the character’s journey in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” – the four-hour director’s cut of “Justice League” that was released on HBO Max in 2021 – was warmly received.
Most of Cavill’s other DC cohorts all have future films in the works – Jason Momoa’s Aquaman returns in 2023’s “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”Gal Gadot is currently developing a third “Wonder Woman.” Even Ben Affleck’s Batman makes a return in 2023’s “The Flash.”
This is a question of whether or not this “Black Adam” credits scene kicks off fan fervor for a new Superman film starring Cavill remains to be seen, but it’s clear those who pushed for the cameo to happen don’t see it as a one-and-done.
“Black Adam”It is currently only playing in theaters.
