Despite his characters enduring all kinds of ridiculous situations and performing insane feats of heroism, Dwayne Johnson has never played a comic book superhuman. That will change with Black Adam, though, which will see Johnson bringing the titular villain/antihero to life. The project has had a long road towards its shoot, hampered by The Rock’s busy filming schedule, various conflicts within Warner Bros. and COVID-19. But finally, all complications are in the past and the movie is underway.
Jaume Collet-Serra is directing, the shoot began in April in Atlanta and the sets look very impressive. Throughout the film’s development, Johnson has been serving up workout pics as well, teasing how he’s going to look. His latest shows him preparing for the Black Adam ‘champion’ scenes, presumably those that require him to be as cut as humanly possible, and you can check out his most recent shot below, along with some previous training photos.
Johnson explains that the physical requirements of Black Adam are unlike any other role in his career, and considering his intensely muscular filmography, that means something. He goes on to describe Adam as the following:
“As many of you know, the intense (and exciting) comic mythology of Teth Adam – he becomes the immortal “champion” by the Gods. Blessed with the powers of Superman and dangerous magic from the wizards. Then his rage turns his soul dark, forever becoming Black Adam.”
Beyond Black Adam, we should see Johnson appearing in other DCEU movies over the next few years. It’s all but been confirmed that he’ll go toe-to-toe with Shazam! in a future film, but if his debut in the franchise is as big a hit as Warner Bros. anticipates, expect the character to be a major player in the universe. Personally, I’d love to see a Black Adam vs. Wonder Woman story, especially as the two heroes share a mythological origin.
Black Adam arrives in theaters on July 29th, 2022. Let’s hope we get a picture of Johnson in costume soon.