Dwayne Johnson lived out a dream many comics fans can only think about – getting to become his favorite superhero. The box office star has been working for more than a decade to get Black Adam to the big screen. With the movie’s release date quickly approaching, The Rock’s dream will finally be realized. The actor proved representation matters as he saw himself in the DC antihero. Johnson talked about how seeing Black Adam on a comics cover was a game changer for him as a kid.
As a kid, The Rock spent his youth moving around due to his father Rocky Johnson’s wrestling career, so he found solace in the DC character growing up as a DC fan. As with most fans, Johnson grew up loving the Justice League, but found the DC Universe had more interesting characters to offer. The action star mentioned on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that he and his team wanted to build out the DCEU through the upcoming film. He recalled the first time he saw Black Adam as a young kid, saying:
We also wanted to build out the DC Universe. I’ve been a fan of DC, again as a little boy I was a fan. I loved Superman, he was my favorite growing up. But I didn’t know until I saw my first Black Adam comic, when I saw the Black Adam comic, he was intense, he looked badass, he had brown skin. And I thought, ‘Wait a second, that’s me. I want to be that guy’.
No matter how cliché it is, representation does matter. Seeing a brown-skinned superhero on a cover took The Rock from being just a fan to finding himself in his favorite universe. It stoked a passion in the Red Notice star to create the project he wanted to see. If you don’t see it, you must create it. Producing and starring in the DC movie is more of a duty for him rather than another superhero movie.
Most viewers know getting Black Adam created and shot was a struggle for Dwayne Johnson. He mentioned to Fallon that the movie was 15 years in the making. He recalled not having the star power to create the film back then due to a lack of confidence from Warner Bros. At the same time, The Rock was facing pressure to change his image. With Black Adam’s release just around the corner, Johnson revealed he had a full-circle moment. The 50-year-old actor received the original article from 15 years earlier announcing him as the project’s star.
The battle for the DC superhero movie continued even after it was done. The film Black Adam faced a prolonged battle with the MPAA as the studio fought against having an R rating. Of course, it had to cut down some gruesome death scenes to get a PG-13 rating, but that won’t hold Black Adam from being a box office success if its current opening weekend estimates hold up. Hopefully, those numbers will combat the mixed reception the project had earned so far. The DC film will finally hit theaters on October 21 after several pushbacks.
