It’s been an eternity since we first heard that Dwayne Johnson was cast as Black Adam. He’s the perfect choice for the role, not to mention that combining superheroes and The Rock is basically a license to print money. And yet, five long years have ticked with the project in development hell, with the character not even making a cameo appearance in Shazam!
Most of that’s probably down to Johnson’s heroic work commitments, which usually see him having several movies in production while also running his show Ballers. But now it seems like the wheels are finally turning for Black Adam, as the star has just tweeted out a confirmation that production will begin in July 2020.
Very cool man, thank you.
Amazing detail.
This project has been with me for over 10yrs🖤⚡️
Production begins this July.
Appreciate the support. #blackadam #dc https://t.co/h8TPXMbcTx— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 18, 2019
Hooray! Standing in the way is the shooting of Red Notice (in which Johnson and Gal Gadot play Interpol agents tracking down an art thief portrayed by Ryan Reynolds), but once that’s done, it’s black lycra time. They’d better hope they get their scheduling right, too, because Johnson also has The King (which he’s repeatedly called his dream project) and San Andreas 2 to shoot at some point in 2020.
One other thing we should look forward to now that a production start date is confirmed is who’ll be playing the movie’s supporting characters. There are widespread rumors that we’ll see longtime Black Adam opponent Hawkman turn up in the film and if we’re going to have one Thanagarian warrior, why not have evergreen fan favorite Hawkgirl in the movie, too? Plus, it seems like a foregone conclusion that Shazam/Billy Batson will also be along for the ride, at least in a cameo role.
Given that Black Adam is the title of the film and the lead character, it’ll also be interesting to see how much of a villain he’s allowed to be. In the modern era of comics, he’s become more of an antihero, so perhaps we’ll see him trying to achieve a secretly noble goal while Hawkman misunderstands the situation and tries to stop him. Hopefully once shooting begins we’ll start to get a better idea of what the film will be about, but either way, it’s about damn time Johnson played a superhero and I, for one, can’t wait.