It feels like just two months ago that Dwayne Johnson made his debut in the DC Extended Universe as Black Adam, a role he’s been connected to in one form or another for roughly a decade and a half. Oh wait, it was only two months ago! Well, if you missed out on seeing Black Adam in theaters, HBO Max subscribers can now watch it for free while going through the DC movies in order. In fact, Black Adam is crushing it on the streaming service, though this shining performance may be too little too late.
Black Adam dropped on HBO Max on December 16, and as of today, December 20, Flix Patrol reports that the latest DCEU entry is ranking as the #1 movie on the platform, ranking at 470 points among 47 countries. It far surpasses Dangerous Play at #2 with its 180 points, while A Hollywood Christmas ranks at #3 being just one point behind. Because Black Adam only recently premiered on HBO Max, its point total is obviously far behind plenty of other movies, including Dune, The Batman and Don’t Worry Darling, but it’s off to a great start.
The problem is that even with so many people watching Black Adam on HBO Max, it might not be enough to guarantee a bright future for this version of the Kahndaqian antihero. For one thing, Black Adam didn’t exactly make a splash during its theatrical run, collecting a little over $391 million worldwide. It was reported earlier this month that Black Adam would end up losing a lot of money at the box office, although Dwayne Johnson claimed that the movie would in fact be profitable. Regardless, despite The Rock’s interest in making Black Adam 2, it’s rumored that the chances of a sequel happening are now “unlikely.”
Let’s also not forget that for years, Dwayne Johnson has been teasing a showdown between Black Adam and Superman, which was set up in Black Adam’s end-credits scene when Henry Cavill cameoed as the Man of Steel. Unfortunately for fans of this version of the character, it was announced last week that Henry Cavill will not return as Superman, and that DC Studios co-head James Gunn is writing a Superman reboot that seems to be taking some cues from The Batman. So even if Black Adam 2 were to happen, it’s no longer possible to take this corner of the DCEU to a Black Adam vs. Superman endpoint.
Frankly, while there are four upcoming DC movies to look forward to in 2023, after that, it seems like there will be some major DC Films shakeups. Joker 2 is still arriving in late 2024 and Matt Reeves will continue fleshing out his The Batman universe, but between the aforementioned Superman reboot, Wonder Woman 3 not moving forward and rumors that Jason Momoa might transition from playing Aquaman to Lobo, pieces are falling into place that indicate that a new shared universe could take the DCEU’s place. So while one can’t say with absolutely certainty we’ll never see Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam again, right now, the character’s cinematic future isn’t looking good.
Still, if you’d like to see how Black Adam’s clash with the Justice Society of America turned out, head over to HBO Max! After that, look through the 2023 movie releases, including Dwayne Johnson’s next movie, Red One, which will be accessible to Amazon Prime Video subscribers once it premieres.
