Believe it or not, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is currently one of the best-paid actors, at least for 2018. Namely, this former wrestling star managed to increase his earnings in the previous year more than any of his colleagues from the film industry. Another piece of information shows that ‘The Rock’ is very popular, not only in the United States but also around the world because his films have an income of incredible $9.7 billion.
On the other hand, we have MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), which is one of the most important movie franchises at the moment. In addition, many of today’s most popular movies belong to the MCU, and the popularity and significance of this franchise are perfectly reflected by the fact that it has more than twice the higher revenue of, for example, the Star Wars franchise which is next on the list.
When you look carefully, on one side, you have one of the biggest movie stars of today, and on the other side, we have the most important movie franchise in the world. Therefore, it is a logical question of how the cooperation between them has not yet arrived. We have an answer to this question or even a few reasons why this is not the case. In the next article that we have prepared for you, we will reveal the details of why Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is still not the star of any MCU film. Well, if you’re ready, let’s start.
‘The Rock’ chose DC
As the most popular comic books of today, there is a certain rivalry between Marvel and DC. On the one hand, we have a Marvel Cinematic Universe and on the other DC Extended Universe. Perhaps Johnson is a fan of superheroes like Batman, Wonder Woman or Superman, who knows? However, the fact is that DC has founded its universe in the year of 2013 and that in 2014, one of the greatest news from the world of film was that Dwayne Johnson would play a role in Shazam as a villain called Black Adam. Still, many have imagined ‘The Rock’ as a superhero but not as a villain.
However, when Shazam was released in April 2019, Dwayne wasn’t among the actors featured in this movie. In the meantime, the contract has been made about the role of Black Adam that popular actor will play in a separate film that is to be released, and for now, we don’t known more details. But why he isn’t part of the MCU? Simply, after it was announced Johnson would be the main star of the DCEU film, it is not realistic to expect it to appear as a hero of the MCU, primarily because of the great rivalry between Marvel and DC. However, earlier, Zachary Levi played the role in the Thor movie and later appeared in Shazam. So, it’s not impossible for ‘The Rock’ to become part of the MCU in the future.
Dwayne has a lot of work to do
This is really true, and Dwayne’s followers on Instagram know best what are we talking about. If you follow his posts on this social network, you can notice that he is very busy with different activities that relate to the movies he filmed. Johnson is currently working on major projects such as Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Fighting with my Family as well as Jumanji: The Next Level. In addition, he is a host of Titan Games on NBC, one of the stars of the Ballers on HBO, and also works on Jungle Cruise by Disney and Red Notice. However, this is not all because he is busy with business projects such as releasing a tequila, and collaboration with the Under Armour brand on Project Rock. Therefore, too many obligations and jobs for one man are probably the reasons why he isn’t in the MCU.
‘The Rock’ probably wouldn’t be able to show his production talent in the MCU.
The well-known fact is that Dwayne has his own Seven Bucks Productions company he founded with Dany Garcia (his ex-wife) seven years ago, in 2012. He was also one of the producers in every project that he had been working on since the film Baywatch. Simply, Dwayne wants to have control over some of the segments he works on, and he would probably not get that amount of autonomy in producing films in collaboration with Marvel.
For example, his influence is evident in the films Rampage and Fast & Furious Present: Hobbs & Shaw. In addition, Marvel doesn’t like to cooperate with other production companies when it comes to their MCU. The only exception to this, let’s say the rule, is Spider-Man, where they collaborate with Sony Pictures that have certain rights to Spider-Man franchise. So, this is another possible reason why there is still no collaboration between great names like The Rock and Marvel.
Marvel loves to choose unexpectedly
Certainly, if you take a look at some of the roles and actors who have played these roles, you will realize that Marvel has a special approach when it comes to selecting actors for their superhero roles. For example, Star-Lord is portraited by Chris Pratt, who was featured in the Guardians of the Galaxy, but before that, he was known as a sitcom actor. Also, Paul Rudd had a role in Ant-Man, while Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth were relatively unknown to the public prior to their roles as Loki and Thor.
The only exception is Robert Downey Jr., which acted in every movie so far as Iron Man. So, Marvel would not engage Dwayne Johnson for some role in superhero films, as this would be somehow expected, and they like to represent new and relatively unknown actors.
The role in the MCU would bring additional obligations to ‘The Rock’
Certainly, this would definitely be one of the cases of cooperation between them. Simply, until now, there has not been a case where only one film about a superhero was shot. We mean that the film has at least another sequel. So, in case of a role in the MCU, Johnson would have to work on future projects that would include his character.
An excellent example is Chris Evans, who has been working with Marvel for quite a long time. He was part of even three films about Captain America, but also four Avengers movies. We also have to note his roles in Thor: The Dark World as well as Spider-Man: Homecoming. So, this means that ‘The Rock’ would have to sign a contract for several upcoming movies or for those who are just an idea. This means that he wouldn’t have control over the roles, as he has in the Fast & Furious franchise. He played here in four films, and as we know, Dwayne didn’t appear in the ninth sequel of the popular film. This would probably not be possible in case of cooperation with Marvel.
Johnson was engaged by Disney
If you didn’t know, Disney is the total owner of Marvel, which is actually one of several production studios that work for Disney. However, even though the animated film is the first association for Disney, this company has dedicated the past few years to the production of live-action movies.
But if you pay attention, not one actor who is part of the MCU has been involved in any Disney’s movie as an actor or actress who will actually appear on the screen (not as voice actor). Perhaps the reason for this is too much preoccupation with the production of films about Marvel’s heroes. Also, Johnson is engaged in the new Disney’s movie named Jungle Cruise, so long-term co-operation with Marvel would probably make it impossible to participate in possible sequels of the Jungle Cruise movie.
Perhaps there is still no the right role for ‘The Rock’
Also, as a possible reason why Dwayne Johnson has not yet appeared in any MCU film is a lack of the right role for a big star. Look at all the most popular Marvel’s heroes, the roles are already dedicated, so it’s simply impossible to see Johnson there. But what about some less popular heroes? Well, we believe this wouldn’t be a good solution because Dwayne is very popular and successful for some supporting role. He simply deserves a central place.
However, given that Disney buys Fox not so long ago, this means that it may be possible to create good conditions for potential co-operation between Johnson and Marvel because this purchasing includes rights to heroes from the Fantastic Four or X-Men franchise. So, maybe one day, we’ll watch Dwayne like Wolverine. Who knows?
Maybe they already have a project on which they work in secret
Although there are many facts that don’t support the ‘The Rock’ as part of the MCU, he and Marvel may be preparing a great surprise for all fans, in secret. However, with his release on Instagram, after the 2019 MTV Movie Awards, Dwayne pointed out that Kevin Feige was one of the most important persons behind the success of Marvel and maybe hinted that cooperation would be achieved:
“I know our assistants have been trying to get us together for dinner for months now. We’re both very busy boys, and I look forward to our schedule linking up.”
Well, the number one question is whether he wanted to say something to all fans through this post? Nevertheless, it remains to us all to hope that we will see Dwayne Johnson as a superhero in the near future.
