It’s been almost five years now since Dwayne Johnson first signed on to join the DC Extended Universe in the role of Black Adam, originally as the villain in Shazam!, before plans were switched up and the decision was made to introduce the character via his own solo movie.
Shazam! has of course come and gone, and Warner Bros. is already pressing ahead with fast-tracking a sequel. However, it seems that Black Adam may not be too far away now either, as Johnson’s regular producing Hiram Garcia has confirmed to Collider that the plan is to shoot the movie late in 2020.
“The success of Shazam! was awesome for us and it was important for us to launch that, get that out into the world and begin crafting this universe,” said Garcia. “It’s a big thing for us to create this universe, this DC section of the universe, with characters we have planned to bring into it, headlined by Shazam and Black Adam. [Director] Jaume Collet-Serra, he just closed his deal, which we’re very excited about, and the plan is to begin filming that end of next year.”
Garcia also spoke about Black Adam’s status as a villain / antihero, stating: “Black Adam, how he starts, he starts off as a villain. Then, he becomes an anti-hero. And then he might become a hero or he might not. Well, you’re going to meet is you’re going to meet a character who’s going through a journey. And I think the idea is, look, we know the root of obviously Black Adam. He was created as a villain. And through the love of the fans and through some great writers and storytellers, he evolved into an antihero. The antihero is a character that we always loved and that we responded to.
“But we understand that there’s been many aspects to Black Adam through him. But ultimately this is a guy who he does have a moral compass as skewed as it may be. And ultimately he is a guy that everything has always been driven by his family and what happens to them. And he is never opposed to unleashing hell when you cross him. So I think when you add in those elements of that DNA, those are things we’re very aware of.”
If filming does actually begin on Black Adam towards the back end of next year, then it seems safe to assume it’ll be late 2021 – or more likely some point 2022 – by the time we get to see Johnson’s Black Adam making his big screen debut.
Originally published August 4, 2019. Updated August 7, 2019.
