Dwayne Johnson Fought To Keep ‘Black Adam’ And ‘Shazam!’ Separate
Dwayne Johnson has been trying to make DC Comic’s Black Adam into a live-action film since joining the project in 2014. Many fans have wondered what took so long for the film to be made, and Johnson recently gave insight into the film’s setbacks.
According to Vanity Fair, The Rock passionately spoke about his upcoming Black Adam film and how Warner Bros. originally wanted the villain to appear in 2019’s Shazam! Johnson explained that WB wanted both characters to have origin stories in one movie, which lead to disagreements between the actor and the studio.
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“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,” the actor expressed. “But when I read that, I just knew in my gut, ‘We can’t make this movie like this.”
The Red Notice star believed the film would lose its impact by telling Black Adam’s origin in Shazam’s movie.
“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.”
Johnson stated that he fought for separate projects, especially since the two characters are two of DC’s biggest comic book rivalries. That sentiment led him to call those involved in the original film to discuss the reason for his “unpopular opinion.”
“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 think that you should make Shazam!, make that movie on its own in the tone you want. And I think we should separate this as well.'”
In the end, it all seemed to work out fine.
Shazam! was released to critical acclaim in 2019. Its sequel, Shazam! and the Fury of the Gods, arrives on Dec. 21. Also, Black Adam has finally received a release date and it opens in theaters on Oct. 21.
Watch the trailer for Black Adam below.
