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SYFY WIRE Black Adam

'DC League of Super Pets' (sort of) fulfilled The Rock's hope for a Black Adam/Superman crossover

DC League of Super-Pets is now playing in theaters everywhere.

By Josh Weiss
DC League of Super-Pets and Black Adam

For the longest time, Dwayne Johnson has voiced his hope to one day see Black Adam square off with the Man of Steel on the big screen. That cinematic dream finally (sort of) came true this past weekend in the post-credits scene of DC League of Super-Pets (now playing), which stars The Rock as Superman's canine companion, Krypto.

The end credits stinger revealed that Johnson — who also produced the family-friendly outing — had an extra pair of voice roles in the movie as Teth-Adam and his imposing dog. On Instagram yesterday, Johnson introduced the dog by name, Anubis, a very fitting moniker, given his owner's connection to Ancient Egypt.

In the scene, Anubis claims Krypto's Batman squeaky toy as his own, while Clark Kent (John Krasinski) engages in a brief, yet positive, exchange with the morally ambiguous avatar of the wizard Shazam. While no punches were thrown this time around, it sounds like fans can expect the two comic book icons to once again meet up in theaters sometime down the road.

"You guys already know how I feel about Superman vs. Black Adam," Johnson wrote in the caption, where he thanked fans for helping make the animated feature the top movie at the box office this past weekend (more on that below). "The Indestructible Force meets the Immovable Object. With the DC Super-Pets Universe, we had an opportunity to build out this awesome animated universe in a big, fun, cool way ... Allow me to introduce the baddest, meanest, antihero canine walkin’ God’s green earth…. Anubis, complete with his new favorite toy — squeezy Bruce Batman."

He went on to joke that he came up with the idea for the post-credits sequence after tossing back a few helpings of his own tequila brand, Teremana, and teased that his production company, Seven Bucks, has "major plans to build out the Black Adam DC Universe and now the DC Super-Pets Universe" alongside Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Comics. "Super-Pets & Black Adam is just the beginning," he promised. "Enjoy the movie and enjoy our Seven Bucks Easter Eggs."

The Rock is definitely cooking up something, and judging by the aroma, it might very well be a Super-Pets sequel that opens the door for an entire animated universe. Or is he perhaps alluding to a future event in the DCEU? Johnson, of course, will make his live-action DC debut this October in Black Adam, a passion project he's been shepherding along for several years. In addition to starring in the title role, he's also an executive producer on the film, which was helmed by fellow Jungle Cruise alum, Jaume Collet-Serra.

League of Super-Pets — which also features the talents of Kevin Hart, Marc Maron, Olivia Wilde, Jameela Jamil, Keith David, Diego Luna, Keanu Reeves, and more — opened with $23 million at the domestic box office and $18.4 million internationally for a global debut of $41.4 million.

"The box office performance of DC League of Super-Pets reflects the current state of the family movie marketplace. With arguably too many films released in too short a timespan has left families faced with pocketbook concerns to make choices about which films they choose to view in the theater vs. watching at home," Paul Dergarabedian, Senior Media Analyst at Comscore, tells SYFY WIRE. "Family films have always needed some room to breathe and when there are too many released in any given corridor — as happened with Lightyear in mid-June, Minions two weeks later, and now Super-Pets, it can often negatively impact the performance of at least one of the films in the mix. Minions unexpectedly became a social media phenomenon and has had a longer tail than expected, so perhaps parents and kids got their moviegoing fix and are still riding that wave of excitement ...  Every movie encounters its own set of challenges and advantages, and DC League of Super Pets encountered its specific set of circumstances. Black Adam will be subject to a very different movie marketplace when it is released on Oct. 21."

Looking for more from Dwayne Johnson in the meantime? You can catch the actor telling his life story in the hit sitcom Young Rock, streaming now on Peacock.