After over a decade of being attached to play Shazam’s nemesis in one form or another, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is finally playing Black Adam! Production on the character’s upcoming DC Extended Universe movie kicked off just days ago, and while obviously exactly what’s being filmed is being kept secret, Johnson wants the public to know one thing: he’s still working out in the midst of it all. Did you really expect anything less?
Dwayne Johnson often turns to social media to give fans peeks into his workout routine, and one of his recent Instagram posts shows him doing some heavy-duty squats. Take a look:
Hey, if you’re going to play Black Adam, one of Earth’s most powerful beings, you better make sure those muscles are being put to good use. As Johnson noted with one of the hashtags in his post’s caption, he is not going gentle with this workout. Also, now we’re once again put in a situation where we can’t help but stare at his massive legs. It’s not just me, right?
Of course, it’d be a strange world if Dwayne Johnson wasn’t pumping iron and exercising regularly. The wrestler-turned-actor has been a hulking specimen for his entire professional career, and now that he’s one of Hollywood’s most famous action stars, it’s even more important for him to keep in shape. Granted, with the powers the Wizard Shazam bestowed upon him, Teth-Adam would still be a powerhouse even if he were skinny, but thankfully, the cinematic Black Adam will be physically imposing like his comic book counterpart.
There was a time when Black Adam was supposed to be the main antagonist in the first Shazam! movie, both when New Line Cinema was developing the project in the 2000s and when it was being put together for the DCEU franchise. However, in early 2017, it was announced that Dwayne Johnson would instead debut as the character in his own movie, although Johnson’s likeness was still used in Shazam! when the Wizard told Billy Batson about how Black Adam (who went unnamed in the movie) went rogue thousands of years ago. There’s still no official word on when Shazam and Black Adam will finally fight one another on the big screen, although Zachary Levi, who plays Billy’s adult superhero form, once speculated this battle could go down in Shazam! 3.
As for what we can expect from the Black Adam movie, we’ll learn how he gained his abilities in ancient Kahndaq, as well as see him clash with the Justice Society of America in the present day. Dwayne Johnson’s cast-mates include Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate and Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz, along with Marwan Kenzari, James Cusati-Moyer and Bodhi Sabongui being cast in undisclosed roles. Behind the cameras, Johnson’s Jungle Cruise collaborator Jaume Collet-Serra is directing the feature, and Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani wrote the most recent version of the screenplay.
Black Adam is now slated to arrive on July 29, 2022, so keep your eyes locked on CinemaBlend for more news about how filming is coming along. You can also look through our upcoming DC movies guide to learn what other projects are coming down the DCEU pipeline.
