Dwayne The Rock Johnson takes on roll as Black Adam for DC Movie Shazam!
Few actors look the part of comic book characters. Fanboys rejoiced when Patrick Stewart became Charles Francis Xavier, Professor X in X-Men. A revolt took place when Ben Affleck was christened the Batman Cowl in the upcoming Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Then there are characters many don’t give much concern such as Black Adam. On September 3, 2014, Dwayne Johnson tweeted he would portray Black Adam in DC’s cinematic universe.
It’s rumoured that Johnson was originally looking at the role of Shazam but when approached by many fans, he understood the role of Black Adam as a better fit and more interesting to portray. Celebrities don’t need to read comics, they just need to get their character.
Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam
This major Shazam adversary is important if you want to capture him as a understood villain. In the DC Universe, Black Adam was Shazam before the Billy Batson incarnation came about. Black Adam isn’t so much a villain as a he is a chaotic neutral. Of course he will be a villain in the Shazam movie but his character is more complex than a Darkseid, Sinestro, Two-Face, Bane, or Reverse Flash. If anything he’s more like General Zod where he has a sense of pride and principal where he must regain his place. To Shazam, he’s the anti-hero.
No word yet if any of the Shazam elements will cross over into DC’s Dawn of Justice film. It’s clear that DC is working hard and fast to regain lost ground on Marvel’s well established Cinematic Universe which is also known as the MCU. Here the DC Cinematic Universe (DCCU) will require a great amount of forward planning locking down actors for long term agreements similar to Marvel. It’s not known how many films Dwayne Johnson has agreed to for DC.
Will the Shazam franchise crossover at all into other DC superhero films is yet to be established. New Line president Toby Emmerich has eluded, “It’s a DC comic, but it’s not a Justice League character, and it’s not a Marvel comic. The tone and the feeling of the movie will be different from the other range of comic book movies.” Does this mean Shazam, Black Adam and others will not have a place in sphere of Justice League characters on film?
If DC remains true to the Black Adam Character, he won’t simply be a villain for Shazam to dispatch in one installment. With the new Dawn of Justice film well into production, it’s clear Shazam won’t make a cameo either. It’s most likely Shazam won’t hit theaters until at least 2016. One thing is certain, Dwayne Johnson is Black Adam in Shazam.
The post Dwayne Johnson is Black Adam in Shazam! also appeared on PCM Reviews.