We have spent months and months presuming that Dwayne Johnson has been prepping to play a superhero in the growing DC Cinematic Universe, with characters like Shazam, Cyborg and Green Lantern being rumored and suggested by professionals and fans alike, but now that presumption is being turned on its head. Instead of playing one of DC's great heroes, Johnson will instead be playing one the comic book company's great supervillains - or as The Rock puts it, "ant-heroes":
The above Tweet was posted by Dwayne Johnson earlier today, seemingly confirming that he has closed a deal with DC Comics and Warner Bros. to play Black Adam in an upcoming movie - presumably the in-development Shazam film. This announcement is a long time coming, as the actor revealed on New Year's Day of 2014 that he was doing something with the comic book company. What's even more interesting is that Johnson's ties to the character actually go way further back than just this year, as the star was previously attached to play Black Adam in a Shazam movie back when Peter Segal was directing the feature circa 2007. At this point we can't say if this is an entirely new project, or if Warner Bros, is simply adapting their old screenplay to fit with the continuity that has been established with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel and will continue to blossom in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Johnson's first hints about playing a DC Comics character go back to January, but really the actor has been using this entire year to tease us and pump us up for his debut role in a comic book movie. He played around with a bit of misdirection at first, for a while leaving hints to suggest that he would be playing the Jon Stewart version of Green Lantern, but things got serious in March when he explained the three rules he had for Warner Bros. and DC when he was approached about starring in a superhero movie:
- He had to play an emotionally rich character
- He had to play a character never seen before on the big screen in live-action
- He had to be a "badass motherfucker" who could take Superman on in a fight
While my original guess after hearing this criteria was Lobo, Black Adam fits rather perfectly as well. Seen by most as being the arch-nemesis of the heroic Shazam a.k.a. Bill Batson, Black Adam originally hails from ancient Egypt and was the original successor to the wizard known as Shazam, being given the stamina of Shu, the swiftness of Heru, the strength of Amon, the wisdom of Zehuti, the power of Aton and the courage of Mehen (all based on Egyptian gods). As Johnson notes, the character has been known to take down supervillains, but he hasn't always done so in the nicest ways.
Are you excited to see Dwayne Johnson become Black Adam on the big screen? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
