When Dwayne Johnson was first revealed to be playing comic book antihero Black Adam 15 whole years ago, he was originally set to act as the antagonist in a standalone Shazam! movie that would pit the two arch-nemeses against each other.
Obviously that didn’t happen, but The Rock retains a huge stake in both parties. Not only is Black Adam finally coming to theaters in October, but Johnson’s Seven Bucks company produced David F. Sandberg’s opening adventure for Billy Batson and sequel Fury of the Gods, so it’s inevitable that the two will end up coming face-to-face on the big screen one day.
However, some sections of the DC fandom have already voiced their disapproval at seeing the longtime enemies deliberately being kept apart as the shared universe at whole struggles for cohesion, with Johnson recently taking to Twitter to confirm a report hinting that he was the one responsible for ensuring Black Adam and Shazam! existed independently of each other.
Not that we’re expecting the pair to be strangers forever, though, especially when that hierarchy of power we keep hearing about is destined to change in one way or another, whether it’s Johnson himself or new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav who ends up being the one responsible.
The former professional wrestler turned A-list megastar has big plans afoot for both the Black Adam and League of Super-Pets sagas, so it’s only a matter of time before the Man in Black and Zachary Levi’s exuberant entity come face-to-face, nose-to-nose, or most likely, fist-to-fist.