Black Adam may traditionally be Shazam’s nemesis, but Warner Bros. is holding a face-off between Dwayne Johnson and Zachary Levi back until a future movie. Instead, The Rock’s upcoming DCEU debut will see him battling another iconic hero from the pages of DC Comics – Hawkman AKA immortal archaeologist Carter Hall. And the quest is now on to find the right star to go toe-to-toe with Johnson.
According to The Illuminerdi, the top choice for the part is Alexander Skarsgard, most known for his roles in The Legend of Tarzan, True Blood and Big Little Lies. As the outlet points out, the Swedish star’s 6″4 stature makes him a good pick for someone to match up against The Rock – who’s 6″5. What with the additional boost of the Hawkman helmet, the pair would be the same height. The only negative to his casting is that many have been hoping WB would break with the whitewashing tradition and cast a Middle-Eastern actor, as per Hall’s Egyptian origins in the comics.
That doesn’t seem to be something the studio is worried about, though. The outlet also shares that, while Skarsgard is the frontrunner for the gig, they do have a back-up choice if they can’t get him. Their number two is apparently Sam Heughan, the Scottish actor and star of TV’s Outlander. You can see why Heughan would be a good replacement for Skarsgard, too, as they both have a similar look and build. This would be by far his biggest cinematic role to date, though.
Earlier this month, another report claimed Ryan Reynolds was up for Hawkman, something the actor quickly shot down and Johnson joked about on social media. This story feels much more feasible, but given what happened on that occasion, it’s probably best to wait and see how the casting for Black Adam develops.
