A little over a decade ago, Dwayne Johnson earned a special Hollywood reputation as “franchise Viagra.” Between Fast & Furious, G.I. Joe, and even for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the actor proved to be an excellent go-to star for established movie series looking for rejuvenation, and all of those projects ended up grossing over $300 million at the global box office. That’s some pretty impressive clout – and Johnson is now optimistic that he can now bring that boosting energy to the DC Extended Universe, starting with Black Adam and then hopefully doing much more in the coming years.
Promoting the brand new trailer for Black Adam that just launched online this morning, Dwayne Johnson participated in a press event this week – joined by producers Hiram Garcia and Beau Flynn, and director Jaume Collet-Serra – and he was asked about his potential future as part of the DC Extended Universe. Based on his answer, it doesn’t sound like anything is wholly set in stone just yet, but it also seems like he is mentally committed to potentially playing Black Adam for a decade and beyond. Said Johnson,
I am 100 percent committed to not only Black Adam, but then expanding the Black Adam universe, the DC Universe. I am an optimist from the word go, so, to me and to all of us up here, all universes exist in our heads, and we all will work very hard to make sure we honor the mythology, but also give the fans what they want. And I hear, we all do, and I pick up everything they’re putting down. It doesn’t get by me, it doesn’t get by these guys.
In Black Adam, audiences will have the opportunity to witness the titular antihero’s origin story and see him square off with members of the Justice Society of America, but clearly Dwayne Johnson doesn’t see this opportunity as a one-and-done thing. The film is firmly set in the canon of the DC Extended Universe, and given the character’s ties to other major heroes in the history of DC Comics, it’s not precisely hard to figure out how Black Adam could be utilized.
The first thing that springs to mind, of course, is the long established conflict between Black Adam and Shazam – and Warner Bros. seems wholly ready to have the two characters square off now that they both have blockbusters set to come out in 2022. That being said, Dwayne Johnson has also spent years hyping the potential of seeing his god-like character go toe-to-toe with Superman. Johnson has talked about Teth-Adam being as strong as the Man of Steel, he’s compared their superpowers, and he’s even specifically talked about the two characters fighting on the big screen. Clearly that’s something that the actor wants to see happen.
The big screen future for Black Adam will all depend on the box office performance and buzz that the solo movie gets when it is released this fall, but Dwayne Johnson very clearly wants the DC Comics character to be a part of his life for many years to come. He continued,
This is the beginning – hopefully, fingers crossed – of a very long storytelling road that Black Adam is the anchoring jet fuel now that will then push and press this universe out.
Black Adam features a stellar cast in addition to Dwayne Johnson, with Noah Centineo, Aldis Hodge, Quintessa Swindell, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Shahi, Marwen Kenzari, and more all involved in the madness. You’ll be able to see the film when it arrives in theaters everywhere on October 21, and you can keep track of everything that is in the works from the franchise with the help of our upcoming DC movies guide.
