Dwayne Johnson Is Finally Making Black Adam
After years of delays, Black Adam - which will star Dwayne Johnson as the DC anti-hero - will supposedly start filming very soon.
This article is more than 2 years old
In what has taken Dwayne Johnson nearly a decade to get rolling, his Black Adam will finally start filming soon, as the film’s producer, Hiram Garcia, recently announced.
Garcia gave a lengthy Black Adam update in an interview with ComicBook.com, where he told fans, “We’re getting started soon, you know actually, we begin filming in April, we’ll be in Georgia, home away from home,” Garcia said. “This is very special to us, and you know, not only Black Adam, but JSA (Justice Society of America), and all these characters we’re introducing to the world,” and Garcia continued saying, “by April we’ll be shooting and on track to bring this thing home.”
Back in 2014, Dwayne Johnson signed on to portray anti-hero and Shazam nemesis, Black Adam. The initial idea was to have Johnson appear as Black Adam in the first Shazam! movie, which starred Zachary Levi as the superhero. Unfortunately, that appearance didn’t happen, and Johnson has been waiting for years to bring his superhero to the movies.
Black Adam is being brought to the screen by Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions, which also includes Hiram Garcia and Dany Garcia, who is Dwayne Johnson’s ex-wife. Johnson and Seven Bucks are reuniting with director Jaume Collet-Serra after the pair worked together on the upcoming Disney’s Jungle Cruise. Collet-Serra’s main directorial efforts revolve around Liam Neeson, with the action-thrillers Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night, and The Commuter. Collet-Serra was also responsible for the Blake Lively-starring shark-thriller, The Shallows.
Garcia couldn’t hide his excitement over seeing Dwayne Johnson in his Black Adam costume for the first time. “The guy’s a walking superhero right, and if there was ever anyone born to play a character, it’s him,” Garcia said via ComicBook. “I feel like it’s been close to like a decade at this point we’ve been talking about this and on it and you see him in that and you’re like, ‘That’s him, that’s why we’ve been waiting, that’s why we’ve been working so hard to make this happen.’ This guy is Black Adam and he is going to change the DC Universe buddy. He’s gonna change that thing.”
As for the plot of the movie, Garcia and Dwayne Johnson have been tight-lipped about it. What we know about the character, though, is that he was once an Egyptian prince who was chosen by the wizard Mamaragan to wield Shazam’s powers, until the power corrupted him. Because of this, Black Adam was chained up and locked away for thousands of years until he was released to enact his revenge on the unsuspecting world. While initially a major villain in the DC Cinematic Universe, over the years Black Adam was given a more sympathetic story, where he became more of an anti-hero rather than an all-out villain.
Dwayne Johnson revealed a few tidbits of the film during the 2020 DC FanDome event, details that included his battle with the Justice Society of America. Fans can expect JSA members to be part of the film as Noah Centineo will be playing Atom Smasher, Aldis Hodge is Hawkman, and Quintessa Swindell will play Cyclone. Sarah Shahi and Marwin Kenzari are also starring in unnamed roles. Doctor Fate is also expected to be on board as one of the main villains.
During the FanDome event, Johnson upped fan’s excitement when he told them that he’d love to see Black Adam team up with Wonder Woman or Superman, though he wouldn’t confirm or deny that either one or both would be making an appearance. Though Henry Cavill had been in talks to reprise Superman as a cameo in a future DC movie, we are unsure if Black Adam would be it. “It might be cool to hang out with Superman,” Johnson said at the time via Deadline. “Because of our strengths and speed; Black Adam and Superman could become friends…or they won’t.” He also had a message he wanted to pass along to all the superheroes in the DCEU, Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, and Wonder Woman about Black Adam joining the fray, “Let them know something — things will never be the same hierarchy in the DC universe, it’s about to change.”
There is no release date at the moment for Black Adam but with production slated to begin in April, we could possibly be looking at a mid-to-late 2022 premiere.
