Though Black Adam may not be an entirely essential ingredient for making a Shazam! movie, he’s the villain I’d have picked had I been in charge. To most familiar with the Big Red Cheese, the Kahndaq native is often regarded as his greatest nemesis, even if arguments can be made for Dr. Sivana, who’ll be played by Mark Strong on the big screen.
For some reason, the studio has opted to grant both caped phenoms their own separate films, but again, it’s not like you or I are calling the shots. On the plus side, though, Shazam! itself is looking pretty good, as you have to admit that the the first trailer pretty much nailed the tone required.
When it comes to Black Adam, however, many are understandably wondering what the hell’s going on with that one, especially since Dwayne Johnson had been cast for the role all the way back in 2014. Luckily, assurances of the picture still being alive have been offered as of late, not to mention “The Rock” himself saying cameras could begin rolling sometime later in 2019.
Getting back to the idea of two separate tales being concocted, here’s what Seven Bucks Productions’ Hiram Garcia had to offer on that front while speaking with Collider:
“So as we were developing an actual Black Adam and Shazam movie, we were just realizing that both characters are so special that we didn’t want to compromise either of them by cramming them both into the same movie. So that’s why we made the decision to let Shazam have his own standalone movie and kind of launch him properly, and then we’ll do the same for Black Adam. And so that kind of really freed things up. It allowed us to develop the right version of both.”
Considering that both Shazam and Black Adam have pretty much the same origin story, I’m still sticking to my guns by saying that the bigwigs in Burbank are simply banking on Johnson’s star power to sell a character that doesn’t really require a solo outing.
Still, Garcia stands his ground by elaborating on how Teth-Adam won’t be toned down:
“Especially when he’s not a boy scout. Especially when he’s got edge to him. Like, he’s not the boy scout superhero, he’s the guy that’s like, okay, you cross him? Well, I rip your head off, and then I move on to the next guy.”
Shazam! opens in theaters on April 5th, 2019.