Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam gives us an after-credits scene with Henry Cavill’s Superman and Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, connecting the movie to the bigger DC movie universe. Here’s why that wasn’t the original plan.
“The hierarchy of power in the DC universe is about to change,” proclaimed Dwayne Johnson early on in the hype-cycle for Black Adam. And between battles with the Justice Society of America and secrets revealed about the DC hero’s own origins, he wasn’t totally wrong. But as the movie’s post-credits scene reveals, the hierarchy of power in the DC universe, held up by Superman, Batman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman, hasn’t totally changed just yet — which is just fine with Johnson. He fought tooth and nail to make sure DC’s modern universe got its due before slamming it into a wall.
[Ed. note: This post contains ending and post-credits scene spoilers for Black Adam.]
In Black Adam’s credits scene, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller appears to Black Adam in Kahndaq’s ancient throne room via drone-mounted hologram to tell him that she expects him to stay in Kahndaq, or else. The hero of Kahndaq replies that there isn’t anyone on Earth who can stand up to him, so why we would he listen? Waller snaps back: She knows people who aren’t from Earth at all.
Cue the arrival of Superman, played by Henry Cavill himself, in the big blue suit for the first time since 2017’s Justice League (unless you count new footage shot for 2021’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League). In a friendly tone, he tells Black Adam that it’s been a while since anyone made the world as nervous as he has, and he caps the whole scene off simply and open-endedly: “We should talk.”
While the scene should make fans giddy about the possibilities of Cavill returning to the role — and recent news suggests that a Man of Steel 2 might finally be in the works — the reemergence of the Big Blue Boy Scout was no mandate for Johnson and his Black Adam creative team.
