For the past two decades, superhero fans have been eating up a lot of rumors about a movie adaptation of Black Adam, a hyper-powered anti-hero in the DC Extended Universe. He's a corrupt antihero with a few moral lines to cross who attempts to clear his name and reputation.
Now, it seems like we have everything cleared up. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will star as Black Adam in the upcoming 2022 movie of the same name. In addition to that, we will also be discussing nine other facts we've learned about the upcoming film, including Johnson's future castmates, script, and release date.
10 Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Will Portray Black Adam
As mentioned above, Dwayne Johnson has been cast to portray Teth-Adam/Black Adam. In fact, what makes this upcoming movie so special is that it will be the character's movie debut. It's a blank canvas for the writers to paint Black Adam's upbringing and give him a likable background. Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, House of Wax) will be in the director seat, alongside producers Dany Garcia, Beau Flynn, and Johnson himself.
9 Noah Centineo, Aldis Hodge, & Sarah Shahi Will Join The Star-Studded Cast
By summer last year, reports revealed that To All The Boys star Noah Centineo was set to join the project. Our favorite heartthrob had been cast as Atom Smasher, a superhero known for his godlike strength and bizarre power of growth. Besides him, Aldis Hodge will play Hawkman, Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz, Quintessa Swindell will portray Cyclone, and Pierce Brosnan will take Doctor Fate's role.
8 Production Started All The Way Back In The 2000s
In the early 2000s, New Line Cinema, a film production studio by Warner Bros, was interested in developing a feature film for Shazam, who was known as "Captain Marvel" back in the day. Although the company dropped the name due to obvious legal issues, they moved forward with the production and introduced Black Adam as Shazam's villain with one actor in mind: Dwayne Johnson.
7 In Fact, Dwayne Johnson Was Initially Set To Play Shazam Instead
However, when the idea was pitched to the actor, he was so close to portraying Shazam, instead. After careful consideration, Dwayne Johnson decided to take Black Adam's role while Zachary Levi now plays Shazam.
"He's a character that I can't wait to play," the Jumanji actor said. "When they first approached me about playing Captain Marvel, they said there is also this interesting character too called Black Adam. This was about a year ago on the set of Get Smart. I said 'Oh, Okay, Great.'"
6 Initially, The Character Was Set To Debut In 'Suicide Squad'
There were many scripts planned for the character. Back in 2017, Gavin O'Connor, the initial director of the upcoming Suicide Squad movie, intended to give Black Adams its big-screen debut in the movie, before O'Connor departed the project and the idea was abandoned. The Suicide Squad itself will make its theatrical release on July 30, 2021, in the UK before making its way to the US on August 6.
5 There Were Rumors The Character Would Appear In The 'Shazam' Sequel
Later on, the character was also rumored to be featured on the 2019 Shazam, but the plan was abandoned once again. Instead, the writers intend to give both characters their own movie to give each one of them a room to develop. Then, with the upcoming Shazam sequel on the horizon, rumors of Black Adam's appearance swirled around the internet once again.
4 Rory Haines Rewrote The Script Entirely
After a series of changes in writing and cast members, writers Rory Haines, Adam Sztykiel, and Sohrab Noshirvani had to re-write the entire script to accommodate the development. In fact, in an earlier version of the movie's script, Hawkgirl was initially included in the team but later replaced with Cyclone. Additionally, Jaume Collet-Serra will serve as the director and Larry Sher as the cinematographer.
3 Story-Wise, No Plots Have Been Confirmed
Big studios don't always give up a synopsis in the early stages of movie production, so it's safe to say that there haven't been any plot lines confirmed so far. However, the original script by Gavin O'Connor in the upcoming Suicide Squad film pits Black Adam as the villain against the Suicide Squad members: they track a weapon of mass destruction which would then be revealed as Black Adam.
2 The Production Was Postponed Due To The Pandemic
Black Adam is one of the big blockbuster movies severely impacted by the ongoing pandemic. The actor revealed back in April 2020 that the production process would be postponed until September.
1 Warner Bros Aims For Next Year's Summer Release Window
The original plan was to release the movie in December 2021 during the holiday season, but as mentioned, Warner Bros pushed the release date to July 29, 2022. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Minions: The Rise of Guru, Indiana Jones 5, and an untitled horror movie by Jordan Peele are some of the other titles scheduled for a July 2022 release.