When Warner Bros. announced their upcoming slate of movies based in the DC Comics universe, one movie that some thought would be an exception was Shazam. The movie is about a teenager who gains the power of a God when he yells out the word “SHAZAM” and pretty much has the powers of Superman.
The biggest news from this movie was that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was signed on to play – not Shazam – but the bad guy Black Adam. This was huge news, not only because The Rock would play a villain, but because Black Adam was such a great DC Comics character that has a lot of potential to become a breakout antihero as well.
Well, the early word was that Warner Bros. was leery about having Shazam crossover with their Justice League movies because it was based more in magic and mythology and they didn’t want to confuse things when it came to their “realistic” grounded world they started building in Man of Steel.
Those theories were wrong.
In a recent interview with Total Film magazine, The Rock cleared things up himself. Here is what he said.
“It was all agreed that the worlds are all interconnected,” The Rock said. “One day you will see Black Adam go at it with Superman or Batman or any of the DC characters. But that said, there’s a great independence to Black Adam from the DC world, allowing us to inject, not only viciousness, but also winking humor.”
He also emphasized that Black Adam would be an antihero, pointing out his slave roots in the comics and the tragedy that causes him to become the character he becomes. Honestly, I am more excited about Black Adam than I am about Shazam.
Shazam hits theaters in 2019.
