The Rock Promises Black Adam Will Start as a Villain

Somewhere down the line in Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s heavily crowded schedule is the DC Comics movie Black Adam, in which he’ll play the titular god character known to rival Shazam!. Very few details of the film have made their way out just yet, as Johnson is currently gearing up for the release of Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw which is followed by another season of HBO’s Ballers, Disney’s Jungle Cruise, and a Netflix movie by the name of Red Notice. Still, the People’s Champ has some perspective of his portrayal Black Adam ahead of the character’s movie production.

“Black Adam, how he starts, he starts off as a villain,” Johnson told ComicBook.com. “Then, he becomes an anti-hero. And then he might become a hero or we might not.” As far as other characters or comic book stories the film might follow, Johnson and his producer Hiram Garcia aren’t willing to divulge much just yet.

“Well, you’re going to meet is you’re going to meet a character who’s going through a journey,” Garcia said. “And I think the idea is, look, we know the root of obviously Black Adam. He was created as a villain. And through the love of the fans and through some great writers and storytellers, he evolved into an antihero. The antihero is a character that we always loved and that we responded to. But we understand that there’s been many aspects to Black Adam through him. But ultimately this is a guy who he does have a moral compass as skewed as it may be. And ultimately he is a guy that everything has always been driven by his family and what happens to them. And he is never opposed to unleashing hell when you cross him. So I think when you add in those elements of that DNA, those are things we’re very aware of.”

Still, Garcia laughed, “Absolutely not,” when asked if he can share what other DC Comics characters might show up. The team has not yet fit Johnson for a costume but they have significant plans in place for the design as the film crew is beginning to take shape, including director Jaume-Collett Serra. Garcia did confirm that Black Adam will arrive after Red Notice.

For now, both Johnson and Garcia are focused on the August release of their Fast & Furious spinoff movie. “The Fast & Furious universe is incredible. And those movies speak for themselves. They are huge, the stakes are massive, the scale is absurd. But for us, when we were invited into the universe, one of the things we wanted to do all the way back from Fast Five was just make the audience smile. We wanted to wink at the audience, make them have some fun and as we started down that path with six, and seven, and then in eight we really found this dynamic with the character of Shaw. As the story makers for this character, we were able to channel what we always loved in film, whether it be that Tango & Cash, that 48 HRS., that buddy, cop comedy vibe.”

Black Adam does not yet have a release date. Johnson’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw hits theaters on August 2.