As James Gunn’s rebooted “Superman” opened with a record $22.5 million in Thursday previews and an 82 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, DC devotees on X turned their gratitude toward an unlikely figure: Dwayne Johnson. Tweets carrying the tag “Thank You Dwayne” — viewed more than 3 million times — credited the star’s 2022 vehicle “Black Adam” for nudging Warner Bros. away from its earlier strategy and toward the successful reboot.
Johnson had lobbied hard for Henry Cavill’s Superman cameo in “Black Adam,” even funding the last-minute scene himself. With a reported $190-260 million budget and a $393 million global gross, the film fell short of profitability, stalling sequel plans as DC’s new leadership pivoted to fresh continuity.
That shift ended Cavill’s comeback and installed David Corenswet as a younger Clark Kent in a larger slate overseen by Gunn and Peter Safran. Cavill later called the decision “the changing of the guard,” while Gunn emphasized that no firm contract had been in place.
Just saw Superman…
First and foremost, I want to say;
Thank You Dwayne Johnson pic.twitter.com/t9OFO902s8
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— Hernandy D. Morales (@hernandy_s) July 11, 2025
Industry trackers now project a $120-130 million domestic debut for “Superman,” a haul that would surpass 2013’s “Man of Steel” and mark DC’s strongest opening since “The Batman.” Review round-ups describe a brisk 125-minute adventure that departs from the darker tone of recent entries, another factor analysts link to early momentum.
Online, memes likening Johnson to a “sacrificial lamb” continue to spread. One viral post joked, “He was so bad we finally got the Superman movie we deserved,” while another thanked him for “pivoting the studio away from sequel plans nobody wanted.” By Friday afternoon, “Dwayne Johnson” remained a trending topic alongside box-office tallies. Publicly silent so far, studio executives nonetheless benefit from the unexpected spotlight that keeps attention fixed on numbers poised to steer DC’s next decade.
