After appearing as Hercules, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will transform into Black Adam, one of DC Comics’ greatest anti-heroes, in New Line Cinemas’ movie adaptation of Shazam. Johnson had played coy about what character he would play in the film, but has been adamant that he would be involved in some capacity. Many fans believed an announcement would be made during this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego in July, but that wasn’t the case.
“’Kneel at his feet or get crushed by his boot.’ My honor to become.. #BlackAdam #TheAntiHero #DCComics,” Johnson announced on Instagram yesterday morning.
Black Adam is the rival of Shazam, also known as Captain Marvel. Black Adam is a champion turned villain whose quest for dominance over all magic drives him to destroy anything that stands in his path, according to DC Comics. The anti-hero’s powers include super strength, flight, super speed, superhuman hearing, and magic. No one has been cast yet to fill the role of Shazam.
Shazam is currently in development and awaiting a first script draft. Screenwriter Darren Lemke is attached to write the script for the film, Variety reports. He most recently penned the script for Sony’s upcoming Goosebumps adaptation, which is currently in production. With Johnson signing on to Shazam, the project could be fast-tracked to begin production when all schedules permit.
“We Love Dwayne and have had nothing but success with him over the years,” Toby Emmerich, President and COO of New Line told Variety. “When I look at Dwayne both off screen and on screen, he is such a larger than life character and it just made perfect sense to me that we put him in a DC comic movie. You look at these comic book characters and they have this certain swag and charisma that Dwayne carries with him where ever he is so that’s why this always made sense.”