Dwayne Johnson says character’s origin story is what drew him to Black Adam

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Not a whole lot has been talked about on the SHAZAM! movie front, despite being an early addition into the DCEU roster of flicks. Really all that is known of the project is that Dwayne Johnson will be playing Black Adam, and will be preparing for the role by sipping Piña coladas with Superman (but not getting caught in the rain. This ain’t THE NOTEBOOK!). However as we get nearer to the movie’s currently slated April 2019 release we will probably start to hear more about the movie from those involved…which is basically just Johnson.

The star took to his YouTube channel to answer some fan questions. Most of them surrounded Johnson’s workout habits, but one person asked him what drew him to the role of Black Adam in the first place:

I love that he starts off as a slave, that he felt like he was wronged. I've just loved that backstory. I think that Black Adam has always been, to me, the most intriguing superhero.

For those of you who have sort of fallen behind on their SHAZAM news will have a better hint as to where the story will put its focus now, particularly on the modern iteration of Adam where he was once known as the Kahndaqian slave, Teth-Adam. Though this is the most we know about the movie in terms of character details, I’m sure news will be developing more this year. I mean, they have to start working on it at some point.

The world probably isn’t as familiar with Black Adam and Shazam as they are Batman, Wonder Woman and that other super fellow, so getting the origin story right will be important for introducing him into the mainstream. Given the level of powers the two characters have we can expect one of the DCEU’s biggest movies in terms of scope, and in regards to Adam and Shazam's history, we could see the best hero/villain conflict yet. Or they will decide getting caught in the rain is actually quite magical. Love is a funny thing.

SHAZAM! is currently slated for April 5, 2019.