Dwayne Johnson could end up being Doc Savage

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

DOC SAVAGE is one of those projects that’s been in development for what seems like forever. Take a look back in the late-90s/early-2000s and you’ll see it was a property being molded as a possible Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle. Of course, those plans were derailed by Ah-nuld’s decision to run for Governor of California, and, once he was victorious in his campaign, DOC SAVAGE was thrown back onto the shelf.

Every once in awhile, someone else would come sniffing around DOC SAVAGE as a film they could maybe make happen, but none of the attempts ever amount to much until Shane Black became attached to the picture over at Sony in 2013. At the time, it appeared DOC SAVAGE would be Black’s next film following IRON MAN 3, but things didn’t quite turn out that way. He elected to do THE NICE GUYS. Then THE PREDATOR fell into his lap, and slowly DOC SAVAGE seemed to be getting pushed down the road of “Never gonna happen” all over again. But that may not be the case exactly with Black telling Thrillist that there are plans for DOC SAVAGE to go into production sooner than you think and he has his sights set on a particular actor to be his titular lead.

Doc Savage is sort of in the ether now. We’re hoping to make it sometime next year. I would very much like to do Doc with a fellow named Dwayne Johnson if we can make that work. I made a decision that Dwayne is the guy. It’s on the back burner while he’s busy.

Outside of the fact that Johnson has like 437 other projects he’s involved in that make his schedule incredibly busy, I’d say he’s a Rock-solid choice for any franchise you’re looking to launch at this point. (Ah, you see what I did there?) Johnson has proven himself to be a bankable star at the moment, and he is an absolute beast when it comes to getting things done. Seriously… Follow his Instagram. The guy is up at 4:00 in the morning to work out, so he can then knock out all of those 437 projects systematically one at a time. His work ethic is second to none, and he’s a guy I would absolutely trust to give it his all with the responsibility of relaunching this franchise on his incredibly muscular shoulders.