[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Black Adam.]
After months of raging excitement - and over a decade of persuasion - audiences around the world are finally able to witness Dwayne Johnson take center stage as DC Comic's greatest anti-hero, Black Adam. From the word go, the film never struggled to build a buzz with the project marking DC's first film foray into such a dark character and also a new era for the DCEU filmverse. However, the anticipation hit a fever pitch when the rumor mill began churning out speculation of a special return in the film's credits scene.
In a two-hour theatrical showdown, audiences saw Teth-Adam go from tortured anti-hero to self-proclaimed protector of the people. Following a timely release for his prison tomb of five millenniums, Teth-Adam seeks to inflict pain upon the people who oppress Kahndaq's residents. In a mid-credits scene, Adam receives a threat from Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). Then, in a jaw-dropping moment, Superman (Henry Cavill) emerges from the clouds telling Adam: "It’s been a while since anyone’s made the world this nervous, we should talk." Adam grimaces and poof it's all over.
During an episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Behind the Screen podcast, Black Adam cinematographer Lawrence Sher revealed how that scene came to fruition - and it was all very last minute. Whilst negotiations around Cavill's return were taking place, the crew powered ahead with filming Johnson's half of the scene in hopes it would all come together. The team reworked the throne room which was already being shot in with director Jaume Collet-Serra declaring: "We’re going to create something for Dwayne to walk into … And we’re going to shoot it in like 10 minutes.”
In fact, everything was so last minute, the titular star filmed his half of the scene on the final day of additional photography as the last shot of day. Cavill's part was put together using a body double with the actor's face not shown in the scene. Instead, they simply used a close-up of the Superman shield on the double's chest. “Watching an actor come out of a full silhouette into that, was actually goosebumps," Sher recollected. "‘Wow, this is 100 percent going to work. Now they need to figure out if they can get the guy with the head to be there.’” The scene was then added to the test screenings of the film and the reaction was electric. Johnson campaigned massively behind the scenes to bring Cavill back as the Man of Steel. However, DC's then-boss Walter Hamada was said to have declined the idea as he had his own vision for the character's future. But unable to take "no" lying down, Johnson put the idea to Warner Bros. new film leads and finally received the seal of approval. After Cavill was finally secured, his half of the epic ending was filmed in London - just last month - with Sher working his magic remotely. It looks like Johnson's hard fight for the Man In Black and his superhero counterpart both worked out perfectly in the end and audiences are already itching to see the two characters go head-to-head.
Black Adam is in theaters now. You can watch the official trailer below.