Dwayne Johnson has been tied to the Black Adam role since long before the DC Extended Universe was a thing, and while his debut as the DC Comics antihero has finally been shot, the public will have to wait a little longer to see it. Until today, the plan was for the Black Adam movie to come out in the summer, after originally being lined up for a December 2021 release. Now the next DCEU theatrical installment won’t be arriving until the fall.
Warner Bros. has moved Black Adam from July 29 of this year to October 21, meaning there’s an extra three months to go until this character finally wrecks havoc on the big screen. However, you’ll still be able to get some Johnson-related DC content on July 29, as the animated movie DC League of Super-Pets, which features The Rock voicing Krypto the Superdog, has been shifted to that date after previously being slotted for May 20. Johnson went on Instagram to share the date changes with the public, as you’ll see below:
As a result of this date change, Black Adam is now opening the same weekend as the Julia Roberts and George Clooney-led romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, and the Colin Farrell and Barry Keoghan-starring The Banshees of Inisherin. Other notable October release include Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) and Halloween Ends both arriving ahead of Black Adam. Dwayne Johnson sounded excited about Black Adam now premiering right before Halloween and playing through the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, but this date change has paved the way for a major shakeup on the DC film calendar.
The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which were previously dated respectively for November 4 and December 16, are no longer 2022 releases. Instead, Ezra Miller’s return as the Scarlet Speedster will now happen on June 23, 2023, while Jason Momoa’s next round of action as the King of the Seven Seas will occur on March 17, 2023. However, Black Adam won’t be the last live-action DC movie of 2022, as Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which was previously set for June 2, 2023, will now take Aquaman 2’s old December 16 slot. Batgirl is also expected to arrive before the year is over, although since that’s an HBO Max exclusive movie rather than a theatrical release, it’s unclear if these date changes will alter its release plans.
As far as Black Adam goes, waiting an extra three months isn’t too bad, especially compared to The Flash leapfrogging ahead seven months. This DC movie will show Dwayne Johnson’s mighty Kahndaqian character being freed from imprisonment after 5,000 years and wasting no time dispensing his lethal form of justice. He’ll soon come into conflict with the Justice Society of America, which is made up of Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman, Noah Centineo’s Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell’s Cyclone and Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate. Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra re-teamed with Dwayne Johnson to helm Black Adam, and Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani all worked on the script.
Fingers crossed this is the last time Black Adam is delayed, but we’ll obviously let you know if that doesn’t end up being the case, along with any other news about the project. Look through our guide of upcoming DC movies to get yourself reacquainted with the game plan for this corner of the superhero movie market.
