Jungle Cruise Director Reportedly in Talks to Helm Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam

One of the biggest DC Comics films stuck in limbo might finally be coming into fruition soon, thanks to the success of Shazam! earlier this year. Many fans have been wondering about the state of Black Adam and whether or not Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would actually play the iconic villain in the future. After over a year of minor updates without any major movement, it sounds like the momentum is ready to pick up.

According to a new report from Observer, Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra is currently in discussions to direct the standalone Black Adam movie, which would reteam him with Johnson after their film adaptation of the Disney Parks ride.

The report was also backed up by Variety, meaning that it seems like the new movie will actually start to come together for the Rock.

Update: THR is now confirming that Collet-Serra has indeed signed on for Black Adam and that the deal is done.

Johnson has long spoken about his fondness for the Black Adam character and was given his choice between playing the villain or his iconic foe Captain Marvel AKA Shazam! Johnson picked the former, and Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema immediately went to work on bringing the hero to the big screen, finally hitting theaters this year.

"For those who know the comic books and who know the mythology of Shazam, Shazam is connected to Black Adam," Johnson explained in a video posted on his personal Instagram page. "Black Adam is an antihero or villain, who I can not wait to play. I've been developing this, and it's been with me in my DNA, for over ten years now. We should start shooting that in about a year. I'm very excited about that..."I can't wait to play Black Adam, because they're all getting their asses kicked when I play Black Adam. That day of reckoning is coming for everyone."

Now that Jungle Cruise has wrapped filming before its release date for July 2020, it sounds like the acting and directing team could pack in another film on the Rock's busy schedule. The actor immediately pivoted from Jungle Cruise to the sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, set to premiere in December later this year.

Some fans might question why they separated Shazam! and Black Adam movies, Shazam! director David F. Sandberg explained the reasoning behind starting two different franchises.

"Early on before I came on board they had experimented with the possibility of doing a Shazam vs Black Adam movie but I think they felt that that was, you know, it was better to just focus on Shazam first and give him his proper space and not have to also do Black Adam," Shazam! director David F. Sandberg explained to ComicBook.com. "So it was a way of, like, have Sivana take more space and that, actually let him have some powers to play around with. So he could be a formidable foe."

Black Adam does not yet have a rumored release date, but with DC's packed slate it stands to reason that it wouldn't hit theaters until the year 2022 or sometime after.