Dwayne Johnson is Doc Savage for Shane Black

Dwayne Johnson has to be one of the busiest men in movies and he’s just added another film to his upcoming slate: Shane Black’s Doc Savage.

The Rock confirmed his casting on his Instagram page over the weekend, sharing his excitement about the pulp superhero adventurer, who first appeared in 1933, in that “infectious enthusiasm” way that he has.

It’s OFFICIAL: For all comic book fans you already know the world’s first superhero (pre-dating Superman) is the “Man of Bronze” himself Clark “Doc” Savage. Want to thank my bud director/writer Shane Black and his writing team Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry for flying in from LA and sitting with me and our @sevenbucksprod’s producer @hhgarcia41 on this Memorial Day weekend to chop up creative and break story on this very cool project. Comic book fans around the world know that the cool thing about “Doc” Savage is that he’s the inspiration for Superman. First name Clark, called “Man of Bronze”, retreats to his “Fortress of Solitude” in the Arctic etc etc. Doc was physically and mentally trained from birth by his father and a team of scientists to become the perfect human specimen with a genius level intellect. His heightened senses are beyond comprehension. He can even identify a women’s perfume from half a mile away. He is literally the master of everything. But here’s the #1 reason I’m excited to become Doc Savage.. HE’S A F*CKING HILARIOUS WEIRDO! Confidently, yet innocently he has zero social graces whatsoever due to his upbringing so every interaction he has with someone is direct, odd, often uncomfortable and amazingly hilarious. After speaking for hours w/ Shane Black I can see why the creator of Superman took only the best parts of Doc Savage and leaving the “weirdo” part behind. But to us, it’s that “weirdo” part that makes Clark “Doc” Savage dope! Can’t wait to sink my teeth into this one of a kind character. #ItsOfficial #WorldsFirstSuperhero #GeniusIntellect #PhysicalSpecimen #FnLoveableWeirdo #ManOfBronze #DocSavage

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on May 30, 2016 at 5:53am PDT

Black has been working on a film based on the classic pulp hero for a while now, and although Chris Hemsworth was rumoured to be up for the role in 2014, he’s recently been vocal about wanting Johnson to be his Doc Savage, and now this movie is finally coming together. The man behind The Nice Guys, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and Iron Man 3 co-wrote the script with Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry.

Filming is set to start at some point in early 2017, which is just as well as Johnson’s got roughly 17 films to shoot before then (including that Jumani reboot) and Black is working on The Predator.

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