Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been officially set to play Black Adam in the DC Extended Universe since late 2014, and it was announced at the beginning of 2017 that Kahndaqian anti-hero would receive his own movie. Since then. updates have been few and far between on what’s happening with Black Adam, but today brings word that Warner Bros and DC wants Jaume Collet-Serra to direct the project.
In case the name doesn’t sound familiar to you, Jaume Collet-Serra’s directorial credits include Non-Stop, The Shallows, The Commuter and the upcoming Jungle Cruise, the latter of which stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Now plans are in motion for Collet-Serra and Johnson to reunite, as the director is reportedly in negotiations to direct Black Adam.
Anyone remotely familiar with Black Adam knows he’s one of Shazam’s greatest enemies, if not the World’s Mightiest Mortal’s arch-nemesis. Variety reports that following the success of Shazam! earlier this year, Black Adam has become a priority for Warner Bros. So in addition to moving forward with Shazam! 2, the studio is eager to expand this corner of the DCEU with the long-awaited spinoff.
Dwayne Johnson indicated as much shortly after Shazam! came out, saying that the plan is for Black Adam to begin filming sometime next year. Assuming Jaume Collet-Serra and Warner Bros finalize a deal, there should be plenty of time for them to fill out that cast and get ready to shoot sometime in 2020, making it the second DC movie to roll cameras that year, following The Batman.
Originally the plan was for Shazam and Black Adam to clash in the first Shazam! movie, but then plans changed, with the DC movies brass realizing Black Adam was a character special enough to warrant starring in his own movie rather than being crammed into Billy Batson’s origin story. Undateable’s Adam Sztykiel was hired to write the Black Adam screenplay in October 2017.
Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time Jaume Collet-Serra has been eyed to direct a DC movie. In 2017 he was being eyed to helm Suicide Squad 2, a.k.a. The Suicide Squad, but that job ultimately went to James Gunn.
Although Black Adam didn’t appear in Shazam!, he did get an indirect mention when the Wizard Shazam told Billy Batson how the individual who he’d previously selected to be his champion became corrupted and released the Seven Deadly Sins onto the world. We’ll have to wait and see when Shazam and Black Adam will fight in the DCEU, but for now, these two characters are being kept separate.
No official plot details for Black Adam have come out yet, but rumor has it that it will include superheroes like Hawkman, Atom Smasher and Stargirl. Assuming this information is true, presumably that means that rather than being a prequel showing how the man known as Teth-Adam obtained his special abilities, Black Adam will be set in the present day, but that has yet to be confirmed.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on how Black Adam is developing. In the meantime, you can learn what other DC Comics movies are coming down the pipeline in our handy guide.
