In the past plenty of actors have managed to balance a work load that included time in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DCEU. For the most part they’re smaller roles, but sometimes a heavy hitter will jump ship. Recently Christian Bale, best known for playing Batman in The Dark Knight trilogy, took on the on the villain role in Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder. Ryan Reynolds has also dabbled in both sides of the comic book equation, plus Idris Elba has jumped between Marvel and DC movies a few times in the past year. So could DC’s latest wunderkind, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, make a similar leap?
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“Do I think we’re going to take any kind of bite out of Marvel? That answer is unequivocally no,” the Black Adam star told The AP on the Red Carpet at the premiere of the new movie. “To me, as we build out the DC Universe, this new era, ushering in a new era of the DC Universe, that to me is not my goal, to take a bite out of Marvel. What they’ve done is incredible, what Kevin Feige has done is incredible. I love those guys, they’re all my friends, and they are largely responsible for the economic drive of our business for almost two decades. So we don’t want to be Marvel, we want to be DC and how we do things. That’s what I want. I don’t want to take a bite of that apple, I want to grab a new apple and I want to create from there.”
Despite planting his flag in the DC camp and swearing allegiance to the distinguished competition, Johnson also hasn’t ruled out the potential for Marvel and DC to meet on the big screen. The two companies have published crossover events between their respective characters and teams in the past, but dotting all the Is and crossing all the Ts on making that happen in live-action seems like a huge hurdle. Johnson however thinks it’s possible.
“I am optimistic,” Johnson revealed to Total Film earlier this year. “Just my nature is optimistic. And especially when it comes to creative. Especially when it comes to movies. And especially when it comes to the pantheon of DC superheroes and supervillains. Across the street, we have the pantheon of superheroes and supervillains of Marvel. To me, they can not only exist, but they should, in my mind, cross paths one day.”
Black Adam is set to debut in theaters on Friday, October 21, 2022.
