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via Warner Bros.
When Dwayne Johnson was first announced to be playing the role of Black Adam all the way back in 2007, it was as part of a Shazam! movie. Fast forward 15 years, and the star had fought tooth and nail to take top billing in a superhero blockbuster all of his own, with everyone fully expecting the comic book arch-enemies to face off on the big screen eventually.
However, The Rock’s focus is very clearly on Henry Cavill’s Superman as opposed to Zachary Levi’s candy-colored crimefighter, with a salacious spate of rumors offering a possible explanation as to why. A report from The Wrap diving deep into the challenges facing new DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran offers that Johnson doesn’t care for the Shazam! property in the slightest, with the actor and producer viewing it as a means to an end to get Black Adam established.
“Safran needs to win over all the other filmmakers… and Dwayne Johnson’s thinly veiled disdain for Shazam means he probably isn’t loving the idea that his boss is now the guy that produces Shazam!. Safran is pretty diplomatic, so I think he will pull it off but it won’t be easy.”
David F. Sandberg’s opening installment and next year’s sequel Fury of the Gods are the only feature films to have been produced so far by Johnson’s Seven Bucks that he hasn’t appeared in as an onscreen character, which led us to assume that the inevitable showdown between the longtime enemies was just that; an inevitability.
One issue with the above quote is that Johnson is also part of the Shazam! saga’s producorial team, so he’s got just as much skin in the game as the rest of the above-the-line talent involved in bringing the ongoing adventures to life. It’s certainly a curious situation, though, one definitely worth keeping an eye on as the Black Adam universe continues to expand.