Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson finally arrives in the DC Comics movie universe in Black Adam. Warner Bros. released the first trailer for the long-awaited movie, which features the Shazam villain front and center. The movie will hit theaters on Oct. 21, 2022.
In Black Adam, Johnson stars as the title character, who shares the same powers as Shazam, the hero Zachary Levi played in the surprise 2019 hit Shazam!. Like the superhero, Black Adam got his powers from the wizard Shazam, but he uses his powers to rule over the fictional country Kahndaq once he breaks free after 5,000 years of captivity. Jaume Collet-Serra, who worked with Johnson on Disney’s Jungle Cruise, directed Black Adam from a script by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani.
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The movie will introduce many other classic DC Comics heroes from the Justice Society of America. Noah Centineo (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before) plays Atom Smasher, while Aldis Hodge (Straight Outta Compton) plays Hawkman. Quintessa Swindell (Euphoria) stars as Maxine Hunkel/Cyclone, while Pierce Brosnan plays Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate. Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Mo Amer, and Uli Latukefu also star.
In the lead-up to the trailer’s release, Johnson began tweeting photos from the Black Adam set to build up buzz for the movie. Johnson has been attached to play Black Adam since at least 2007 when Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema label began developing a Shazam! movie. After Warner Bros. began developing the DC Extended Universe in 2014, Johnson remained attached to a Shazam! project. The studio later decided to make Black Adam the star of his own movie, and the Shazam! film used Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong) as the villain.
Since Johnson has been involved in Black Adam since its inception, his production company Seven Bucks and his producing partner Dany Garcia are co-producing the film with Warner Bros. Last year, Dany Garcia told Variety they hope to be involved in many more DC Comics movies in the future. “We want to do many,” she said. “We’re excited about our long-term relationship with DC on this property.”
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