Dwayne Johnson recently teased that we could possibly see Warner Brothers’ Shazam film earlier than its current 2019 release date, and now the wrestler-turned-movie star has suggested that he may suit up as Shazam villain Black Adam as soon as Justice League: Part One in 2017.
The folks over at IGN managed to get Johnson talking about Black Adam while doing the press rounds for Furious 7. As always, the actor seems incredibly excited to play the powerful character – who he’s described as more of an an antihero than all-out villain – and said that the door is open for him to either face off with (or even join) the Justice League at some point. When asked if he’d be interested in exploring the character’s more heroic side, Johnson teased:
“I think so, and I think you always leave that creatively open, that he could join the Justice League and I think… that’s the fun part of creating this character right now and everybody involved, from the studio, from New Line, to Warner Bros as well, to the writer, our producing partners. You want to… you definitely want to engage in his heroic side, but that has to be earned.”
Personally, I think that seeing Black Adam team up with the Justice League is a bit of a long shot (at least this early on), but would have no qualms about him facing off with the likes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the League before taking on Shazam in 2019. He’s certainly powerful enough to do so, and I imagine that Warner Bros. would like to use a bit of Johnson’s charm and marketability to build even more hype and excitement for a film like Justice League.
At the end of the day though, it all comes down to making the best film possible and staying true to the character. Johnson seems to understand this perfectly, and promises that he’s taking the role seriously and respecting the fans, even if that means holding back on the more heroic stuff at first:
“With the mythology of Black Adam starting off as a slave, because when you start off as a slave, just inherently, there’s things in your DNA that piss you off. And that’s the bottom line, so I think we have to respect and pay homage to the true mythology and then the heroic side will come down the line, but I think it’s important and we all feel it’s important and I believe the fans at IGN feel it’s important to make sure the homage is paid at the beginning because then you have a stronger foundation to stand on, and so he will become an anti-hero, but at first… daddy’s got to go to work.”
Justice League: Part One is slated to hit theaters on November 17th, 2017. Shazam will arrive on April 5th, 2019, followed closely by Justice League: Part Two on June 14th, 2019.