Source: Warner Bros. / Warner Bros.
Now that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is finally about to make his DCEU splash when Black Adam hits theaters later this year, fans are learning that he could’ve made his debut much earlier had Warner Bros. had their way.
Vanity Fair is reporting that Warner Bros. had originally planned on Johnson’s Black Adam character to make his debut in 2019’s Shazam! opposite Zachary Levi, but the WWE Hall of Famer vetoed the idea saying it would be a “disservice” to the anti-hero. The original script to the surprise hit film was supposed to tell the origin stories of both Shazam and his arch-nemesis, Black Adam, but The Rock objected to it and the studio decided to honor his wishes and give each character a standalone film.
“When the first draft of the movie came to us, it was a combination of Black Adam and Shazam: Two origin stories in one movie,” Johnson recalls. “Now that was the goal—so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But when I read that, I just knew in my gut, ‘We can’t make this movie like this. We would be doing Black Adam an incredible disservice.’ It would’ve been fine for Shazam having two origin stories converge in one movie, but not good for Black Adam.”
Well, he’s not wrong.
Keep in mind that Johnson had signed on to be Black Adam in Shazam! since 2014 and though it took all those years to get the film in development, Johnson exercised patience and it seems like it’s going to pay off as Black Adam is set to debut this October.
Unfortunately, the current DCEU is still without the face of the franchise, Superman, as Henry Cavill allegedly turned down Warner Bros. offer to have him return as the Man of Steel going forward. Whether or not that is true is anyone’s guess, but you can’t have three different Batman’s, two Jokers, and no Superman.
Hopefully Cavill and Warner Bros. can come to some sort of agreement because a crossover film featuring Superman, Black Adam and Shazam would be the stuff of DC dreams as Black Adam seems like the kind of villain Superman would need to go toe-to-toe with.
“Superman won’t kill anybody. There’s a code that he lives by and he honors,” Johnson says. “Black Adam has a unique code of ethics too. He will not hesitate—and I like to have a little fun when I’m explaining this—to rip somebody in half.” Does that mean the actor is…kidding? “Literally, he’ll grab someone by the neck and by the thigh and then rip them up, tear them apart,” Johnson clarifies.
The way the DCEU has been struggling since the release of 2013’s Man of Steel, they need to make this crossover happen, but for now it seems like Black Adam and Shazam will be facing off in either Black Adam 2 or Shazam! 3.
Are y’all excited to see Dwyane Johnson make his DCEU debut this October as Black Adam? Will he alone be enough to help resurrect the struggling DCEU? Let us know in the comment section below.
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