The Rock's Black Adam to Be Introduced in Suicide Squad 2?

Warner Bros.' upcoming DCEU sequelSuicide Squad 2is getting on the right track, withdirector Gavin O’Connor(Warrior) coming aboard to take the helm, and today we have word that the sequel may be planning quite the big surprise. A new report claims that the sequel will serve as the DCEU introduction for Dwayne Johnson’s long-awaited character Black Adam, who was originally supposed to star in theShazam!movie before that project was reworked and Black Adam was given his own stand-alone adventure. This report also claims that production won’t begin until October 2018, to accommodate The Rock’s busy schedule.

The Rock already has two film projects lined up to shoot next year, Disney’sJungle Cruisemovie and his controversialFast & Furiousspin-off that is in the works with Jason Statham, along with a possible fifth season of HBO’sBallersas well. Still, insiders state that Dwayne Johnson’s role inSuicide Squad 2won’t take that long to shoot, but it’s worth noting that a report from late October claimed thatSuicide Squad 2 starts shooting in March 2018, despite no cast members being officially set and Gavin O’Connor presumably still working on the script. October 2018 seems like a more reasonable production start date for all involved, although that date hasn’t been confirmed yet either.

What’s interesting is that Dwayne Johnson himself hinted in a May interview that there will be asurprise DCEU introduction for Black Adam, and he has mentioned this surprise introduction more than once in other interviews this year. This report certainly falls in line with The Rock’s repeated suggestions, revealing that the story will follow theSuicide Squadbeing tasked with tracking down a dangerous new weapon, which is none other than Black Adam himself. It isn’t known ifSuicide Squad 2will then directly set up the stand aloneBlack Adammovie, although it certainly could be likely.

While the firstSuicide Squadmovie didn’t suffer from a lack of star-power, with an all-star cast including Will Smith (Deadshot), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Jared Leto (Deadshot) and Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), just to name a few, the movie was universally panned by critics. Given Dwayne Johnson’s work in taking theFast & Furiousfranchise to new heights, after signing on for 2011’sFast Five, it’s easy to see why Warner Bros.' wants to introduce The Rock’s Black Adam in this movie, to not only bring some of his magic to theSuicide Squadfranchise, but also set the table for hisBlack Adammovie. There has been talk that Black Adam could eventually fight Superman (Henry Cavill), but it all depends on how well this character is received.

Then again, Jared Leto stated last month that he still isn’t sure yet if he will be returning asThe JokerinSuicide Squad 2, and Margot Robbie also stated that she doesn’t know which project will go forward for her next, which could be eitherSuicide Squad 2,Gotham City SirensorJoker and Harley Quinn. If this sequel loses both Jared Leto and Margot Robbie, then perhaps this sequel could use all the Rock they can get. Still, this report fromThe Wraphas yet to be confirmed by the studio, but hopefully we’ll have some official details soon.