Dwayne Johnson has been attached to play Black Adam for so long that we kind of keep forgetting that it’s actually a thing he’s doing. However, a new rumour has surfaced that suggests that we might be seeing the character earlier than anticipated.
The Wrap has fired a rumour into the internet that Johnson may in fact be the villain in the upcoming Suicide Squad 2. According to them, “insiders told TheWrap that the current plan for the sequel is for the members of Suicide Squad to be tasked with tracking down a weapon of mass destruction. That weapon? Black Adam himself. The villain is best known in DC Comics as the main nemesis of superhero Shazam.”
There are two elements being cited as reasons why this could be the case. The first is an interview that Johnson did with Fandango back in May in which he said “We have a really cool surprise for Black Adam that I can’t reveal, in terms of where we will see Black Adam being introduced.” Nice and vague.
And indeed, vagueness is also a big part of the second element, which is that there is very little that we do know about Suicide Squad 2. Warrior‘s Gavin O’Connor is on board to probably write and direct after a filmmaker hunt that seemed to go on forever, and it’s looking like production will begin in October next year. Of course, The Rock is the busiest man on the planet and The Wrap notes that potential scheduling conflicts include (and are probably not limited to) another season of Ballers, his Fast & Furious spin-off with Jason Statham (sorry, Tyrese), and Disney’s Jungle Cruise.
However, even that wouldn’t put a dent in this possibility, however, as they claim that “Black Adam’s part shouldn’t take much time to shoot, the insiders said.”
It would make sense to actually use the fact that they have Dwayne Johnson signed up and ready to go, and putting him into the mix for Suicide Squad 2 would go some way towards getting people excited about a follow-up to the financially successful but critically derided villain team-up.
Meanwhile, it’s full steam ahead on Shazam!, as David F Sandberg’s movie has cast young Asher Angel as Billy Batson, joining Zachary Levi as Shazam. Mark Strong is also in talks to play the villain.
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