Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Legends of Tomorrow season 6, episode 3, “The Ex-Factor.”
A recent episode of Legends of Tomorrow suggested a new role for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the Arrowverse; not as a superhero or superstar, but as the future President of the United States. This opened the door for a possible cameo appearance, given Johnson’s connection to Warner Bros. and the DCEU.
The plot of the Legends of Tomorrow episode “The Ex-Factor” centered around a popular reality show from the year 2045 called “Da Throne.” Parodying both American Idol and The Masked Singer, the show featured outrageous costuming for its performers and allowed fans to vote for their favorites on social media. The Legends became involved with the 2045 competition, after having to travel forward in time to prevent an alien warrior known as Lord Knoxicrillion from killing the host of “Da Throne” as part of a misguided effort to conquer the Earth. This led to Zari Tarazi being recruited as the show’s celebrity wild card and a song battle with Lord Knoxicrillion for the right to rule the Earth.
An interesting factoid about the future of the Arrowverse emerged as Behrad Tarazi (who is from the future of 2044) explained the rules of “Da Throne” to his teammates from his past. In describing how insanely popular the show was, Behrad mentioned how President Dwayne Johnson had appeared on the show during the previous season. Reportedly he was still in good shape for his age and perfectly capable of “getting down,” as Behrad put it. This, coupled with the layout of “Da Throne, “suggested that the President might have been a competitor on the show while still holding office.
Beyond being a nod to a popular actor and America’s history of voting actors and reality show performers into public office, there seemed to be several jokes at play with the reference. Johnson once stated that he was considering running for President of the United States in earnest and the show Young Rock was built around the idea of Johnson running for President in 2032. It may also have been a nod to the outrageous future of Idiocracy, where a professional wrestler, Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, was elected President of the United States in the year 2505.
While it’s unlikely that The Rock will appear in the flesh in a future episode of Legends of Tomorrow given his busy shooting schedule, it wouldn’t be impossible for another actor playing the older Dwayne Johnson to show up at some point to help the Legends in their fight with time-displaced alien invaders. The show also teased another wrestler turned actor with ties to DC Comics during the same episode, as Nate Heywood, upon learning Dwayne Johnson was the President, asked in all seriousness if John Cena was his Chief of Staff. While it’s unknown if Cena will be appearing in the Arrowverse, he will be playing the part of The Peacemaker in the upcoming The Suicide Squad movie and going on to star in an HBO Max solo series based around the character.
