After more than a decade of waiting and planning, Dwayne Johnson has finally stepped into Black Adam’s shoes… or boots, rather. Back in 2017, it was announced that rather than serving as Shazam!’s main antagonist, the Kahndaqian anti-hero would instead debut in his own movie, and Black Adam kicked off principal photography earlier this month. While we wait for our first official looks at the production, word’s come in that Black Adam will see Johnson reuniting with one of the actors who plays his younger self in the NBC series Young Rock.
Uli Latukefu, who plays the college-aged version of Dwayne Johnson in Young Rock, has scored a role in Black Adam, although Deadline did not provide details about his character. Naturally one wouldn’t be faulted for assuming that, just like what he’d doing on TV, Latukefu has been brought onto Black Adam to play a younger version of the eponymous character, who went by Teth-Adam in the old days. For now though, we can’t officially say if that is indeed the case; it’s also possible that he’s playing a separate character, allowing him to potentially share screen time for Johnson.
Either way, this is another big opportunity for Uli Latukefu, who was handpicked by Dwayne Johnson to play him in Young Rock among reportedly thousands of other candidates. Latukefu has also appeared in projects like Alien: Covenant, Marco Polo and Doctor Doctor. In addition to Black Adam, he’ll also soon appear in the Taika Waititi-directed Next Goal Wins and Black Site, which costars Michelle Monaghan, Jason Clarke and Jai Courtney.
While specific Black Adam plot details are still being kept under wraps, we do know that the movie will explore at least two different time periods. In ancient Kahndaq, we’ll learn how Teth-Adam gained his mighty powers from the Wizard Shazam and eventually became imprisoned for 5,000 years (which was briefly touched on in Shazam!). Then in the present day, Black Adam will awaken and face off against the Justice Society of America, DC Comics’ oldest superhero team.
So who else is joining Dwayne Johnson and Uli Latukefu in Black Adam? The major players include Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate and Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz. Additionally, Marwan Kenzari, James Cusati-Moyer, Bodhi Sabongui and Mo Amer have been cast in undisclosed roles. Zachary Levi’s Shazam is not expected to appear, although there will surely come a time when he and Black Adam finally collide in a theatrical setting.
Behind the scenes, Jaume Collet-Serra, who previously collaborated with Dwayne Johnson on Jungle Cruise, is directing Black Adam, and Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani wrote the most recent draft of the script. The movie is set to drop on July 29, 2022, and since last year’s DC FanDome plugged it, fingers crossed that Black Adam gets some love at the next DC FanDome.
Stay locked on CinemaBlend for more news about Black Adam’s progress, and don’t forget to scan through our upcoming DC movies guide to learn what else the DCEU has in store for moviegoers.
