Dwayne Johnson Says He Pushed DC For Solo ‘Black Adam’ Film

Dwayne Johnson will soon be making his comics film debut by appearing in Black Adam, and the actor/producer of the film recently spoke about how he got the villain his own solo origin story.

It was known that Johnson was originally supposed to play Black Adam in the 2019 film Shazam! and face off against Zachary Levi as the titular hero, but said he cooled to the idea after reading the first attempt at the screenplay, saying he felt it was “an incredible disservice” to Black Adam, he told Vanity Fair.

“It would’ve been fine for Shazam having two origin stories converge in one movie, but not good for Black Adam,” Johnson continued.

Johnson has been attached to the project for over five years since 2017 and said he made the “very unpopular” request to modify the films. Most of the crew had been on board with the original, but the studio sided with Johnson and changed the villain in the 2019 film to Dr. Thaddeus Silvana played by Mark Strong while Johnson began work on the solo venture.

While it may seem odd for Johnson to think that his villain needs his own origin story, DC has been playing around with antiheroes as their protagonists for a while to distinguish their superhero films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe crop.

Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Harley Quinn was part of the Suicide Squad series as well as her own film Birds Of Prey.

Other actors set to appear in Black Adam include Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi and Marwan Kenzari. Black Adam premieres in theaters on October 21.