Dwayne Johnson has revealed what the original plan was for Shazam! and Black Adam in the DC Extended Universe.
Dwayne Johnson was originally rumored to be involved with the DC Extended Universe way back in the mid-2010s when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was in production. As it turned out, he had nothing to do with that particular project but instead would be playing Shazam! villain, Black Adam. Film history remembers that originally Dwayne Johnson’s character was set to make his debut in the first Shazam! film. Eventually, it was decided to give Johnson his own film centering around the character.
The Black Adam film was a movie that spent years in development due in part to Dwayne Johnson’s busy schedule. Production was delayed once again due to the Covid-19 pandemic and faced another round of delays due to the extensive VFX work the film required. Now, however, Johnson has revealed why the characters didn’t meet in the first Shazam! film.
The Star Reveals What Once Was
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Dwayne Johnson revealed why they opted to give Black Adam his own film. In short, it was what Johnson wanted as he felt Shazam!‘s original script didn’t do the character’s origin story justice:
“When the first draft of the movie came to us, it was a combination of Black Adam and Shazam: Two origin stories in one movie. Now that was the goal—so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But when I read that, I just knew in my gut, ‘We can’t make this movie like this. We would be doing Black Adam an incredible disservice.’ It would’ve been fine for Shazam having two origin stories converge in one movie, but not good for Black Adam. I made a phone call, I said, ‘I have to share my thoughts here. It’s very unpopular…’ because everybody thought, ‘Hey, this script is great, let’s go make this movie.’ I said, ‘I really think that you should make Shazam!, make that movie on its own in the tone that you want. And I think we should separate this as well.’”
Here is the synopsis for Black Adam:
“Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam (Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.”
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from a script written by Adam Sztykiel and Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani, the DCEU film stars Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Bodhi Sabongui, and Pierce Brosnan.
Black Adam opens in theaters on October 21, 2022. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the upcoming film and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more original video content.
Source: Vanity Fair via Screen Rant
