One of the busiest actors in Hollywood is Dwayne Johnson. When he is not filming one movie after another, he is busy interacting with fans on social media. The action star recently took to Instagram to answer some fan questions, and DC Comic fans will be interested in reading what he had to say about playing the role ofBlack Adamin the character’s upcoming standalone film.
How excited am I to play, BLACK ADAM? Very. I dive into more detail on the “why” andthe character’s mythologyas well as a few key filmmakers who are ready to bring Black Adam’s story to life as we begin shooting this summer.
Jonhson’s comments during the video let us know a few things about thestatus of the Black Adam movie projectthat has been in the news for ten years now. In all that time, Johnson has been attached to play the role of the villain-turned anti-hero.
Black Adam started out as the main villain for Captain Marvel, back when the characters belonged to Fawcett Comics. DC bought the license for the characters and folded the entire cast of theCaptain Marvelseries into the larger DC universe.
The backstory of Black Adam usuallyplaces his origins in ancient Egyptor the imaginary nation of Kahndaq, where he was chosen by the wizard Shazam to bear the mantle of Captain Marvel. A series of events cause Black Adam to become violent and murderous, either by his own desire to rule the world or because of the murder of his wife and children, depending on the writer. This leads Shazam to sever ties with Black Adam and chose a new champion in the form of Billy Batson to be Captain Marvel.
While Black Adam is sometimes depicted as a villain and sometimes as an anti-hero, he is always shown to have very definite ideas of right and wrong and believes in using force to bring about positive change in the world. To some, he is a supervillain, while to others he is a savior.
It is this complex mythology thatDwayne Johnsonis referring to when he talks about what makes him want to play the role of Black Adam. Johnson also indicates just how powerful Black Adam is by equating him with superman in terms of raw strength, while also hinting that Black Adam may actually have an edge thanks to his being able to use magic.
It is difficult to imagine the family-friendly action star will essay the role of a full-fledged villain, so most likely the movie will portray Black Adam as an anti-hero forced down a dark path after a life of slavery, and perhaps even someone who finds redemption for his less savory actions by the end of the movie.
Johnson’s comments also reveal that the movie will be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, a Mexican filmmaker who got his start in horror and has already directed Johnson and Emily Blunt inJungle Cruise. Lawrence Sher, who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography forJoker, will also be the cinematographer forBlack Adam.
Finally, while Johnson seems confident that the movie will begin shooting this summer, the rapid spread of the Coronavirus is making that seem more and more unlikely, with almost every major new movie that was already filming halting production mid-way to protect the health of the crew. It is more likely that the shooting ofBlack Adamwill once again be postponed, and the entire project pushed back yet again. This video comes fromThe Rock’s official Instagram.
