DC's New Movie Is Black Adam All Over Again

DC’s new movie may be better than Black Adam, but there are certainly some frustrating similarities. As one of the last installments in the DCEU’s movie timeline, Black Adam did not fulfill the promises it or, more aptly, its star made. Dwayne Johnson continuously promised that Black Adam would reinvigorate the DCEU, leading to a much more defined creative path than the one it had suffered between 2017 and 2022. However, the film failed critically and somewhat underperformed commercially.

This, of course, led to the complete restructuring of the universe under James Gunn’s stewardship, with the DCU’s Chapter One: Gods and Monsters being born from that. Now, upcoming DC movies include a Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, a standalone Clayface movie, and many more unknown projects that promise to finally give DC fans their own version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That said, the DCU has recently hit a bit of a snag, drawing many unfavorable comparisons to Black Adam.

In June 2026, DC Studios released Supergirl, a spiritual sequel of sorts to Superman. Despite a lot of pre-release hype, Supergirl received mixed reviews and is currently massively underperforming at the box office. What’s more, Supergirl‘s marketing promoted big connections to Superman, either via the latter himself appearing in trailers or the importance of Krypto in the film’s plot. Black Adam did the same, with Dwayne Johnson teasing a return to the DCEU for Henry Cavill as Superman, even bringing him in for a post-credit scene cameo.

Despite being a big talking point of the movie, Superman’s appearance did not aid Black Adam‘s box office, and did not allow it to be the fresh start Johnson and Cavill intended. The same can be said of Supergirl, to an extent. Although the 2026 DCU movie is widely considered to be better than Black Adam, one would have assumed that the big ties to Superman, which was successful upon release in summer 2025, would boost its box office. However, with a worldwide opening weekend haul of only $68 million, Superman couldn’t save Supergirl, just like he couldn’t save Black Adam.

Supergirl Faced The Same Challenges As Black Adam

Ironically enough, despite Supergirl being part of James Gunn’s revitalized DC Universe, it faced the same challenges as Black Adam. The latter movie tried to be a new first step for its franchise, but came too soon after a cluttered section of the DCEU that made it unclear as to where the franchise was heading. It felt as though Johnson and his production team were simply relying on big fight scenes, exciting action, and big-name heroes, like Superman, to make the movie a success, rather than a clear, defined plan.

In some regards, the same can be said of Supergirl and the DCU at this point. Although a lot of projects were outlined for the DCU’s first chapter back in 2023, many of them have been delayed, hit production issues, or been outright canceled. Yes, Superman and Supergirl are loosely connected, as was Peacemaker season 2, but the future of the DCU as a whole remains more unclear than we thought it would be.

Some of the biggest DC characters don’t even have actors attached to play them, yet. The likes of Batman, Wonder Woman, a new Aquaman, or several other big heroes don’t seem close to being part of a movie or TV show. Unlike the MCU’s Phase One, which had four planned-out solo movies before bringing them together, the DCU’s first Chapter still feels slightly scatterbrained. Supergirl has, sadly, fallen victim to this, just like Black Adam did with the DCEU back in 2022.

Should Supergirl’s Box Office Worry DC Fans?

Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El with Krypto in Supergirl

Now, the question is whether DCU fans should worry about the franchise after Supergirl‘s box office. It would be easy to say yes, as it means audiences have no real clamor for DC characters outside of the big three, but there is still some hope. After all, many of the MCU’s biggest characters, like the Guardians of the Galaxy, weren’t well known before their big live-action trilogy; If anyone can make smaller DC characters stand out, it is Gunn.

However, the lack of a wider plan is still worrying. Clayface is the next DCU movie in October 2026, and despite looking promising with a great team behind it, it is difficult to see how that movie will contribute to the franchise’s wider narrative. Also, Clayface is known among comic book fans, but Supergirl is undoubtedly a bigger name to general audiences. If the DC Universe wants to succeed where the DCEU failed, maybe it is time for Gunn to finalize the stories that will be part of Chapter One, complete with some of DC’s bigger characters.