Dwayne Johnson may be the highest-paid actor in the world and one of the last genuine movie stars left in an era where a recognizable and marketable brand is usually the selling point instead of the name on the poster, but nonetheless, it still seems a little surprising that he’s never appeared in a comic book film.
After all, the genre is arguably the most popular in the entire industry, and Johnson once dubbed himself ‘Franchise Viagra’ for his ability to step in and boost the box office returns of franchises like Fast and Furious and G.I. Joe, but somehow it’s taken this long for the 47 year-old to suit up and don the spandex.
However, that all comes to an end soon, as The Rock took to social media to reveal that he’s officially in training for his entry into the DCEU as the title character in Black Adam, a role he’s been attached to for well over a decade. Obviously, Dwayne Johnson doesn’t seem like the type of guy that needs to bulk up to play a superhero, but the photo makes it clear that he certainly won’t be borrowing Zachary Levi’s Shazam! muscle suit.
The DCEU has been on something of a creative upswing in recent years, so now seems like the ideal time for a star of Johnson’s magnitude to board the ship. And given his profile and the fact that he hasn’t starred in anything apart from big-budget studio blockbusters in years, it seems likely that Black Adam will be designed to set him up as one of the franchise’s marquee characters for years to come, especially given the reports that the Hobbs & Shaw star seems keen to tangle with Henry Cavill’s Superman.
