A people’s history of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

polygon.com:

Movie stars at the top of their game can often feel invincible, but there was something about Dwayne Johnson’s 2000s climb from wrestler to bankable Hollywood star that seemed uniquely bulletproof. Possessing an endless supply of charm and an aggressive careerist streak, “The Rock” seemed to will his way to the top of the wrestling world and then the box office, managing the tricky maneuver of being ever-present — on the big screen, in random TV appearances, on Instagram — yet not suffocating.

That era, impossibly, seems to be over. Johnson remains busy, but smelling what The Rock is cooking has never been more difficult. These days, Johnson is more likely to make headlines for publicity missteps and alleged scandals — like speculation over a rightward political turn, or behind-the-scenes drama over how his behavior may have contributed to delays and overspending on Red One, his forthcoming Prime Video Christmas movie with Chris Evans.

For the first time in a long time, public opinion might be shifting against Johnson, as he risks becoming the one thing he has carefully avoided his entire career: unlikable. What happened?

Presented here in brief is a people’s history of the rise and fall of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, one written while fully aware that The Rock may rise once more. Only time will tell which version of the man we’ll get next.

After duking it out for five years as a face and heel in WWE (then the WWF), and a handful of TV appearances in Star Trek: Voyager and That ’70s Show, The Rock was ready to make his feature debut. Dwayne Johnson’s role as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns was much publicized but ultimately a bit of a letdown; he only appeared in the film’s prologue and then again as a CG monstrosity that was hilarious for a long time and might have looped back around to become terrifying. The silver lining: You can’t let down anyone who wasn’t pumped to begin with. Less of an upside: his starring role in 2002’s Mummy spinoff The Scorpion