Black Adam Production Date Announced by Dwayne Johnson
For more than a decade ‘The Rock’ Dwayne Johnson has been attached to the role of DC‘s Black Adam. Fans have been anxiously awaiting to hear more details on when to expect this film. With the success of SHAZAM! it was only a matter of time. Finally, in a tweet shared by The Rock today, he has finally given us the news we have all been waiting for.
One fan who is excited about the future film tweeted out a photo of a sculpture he made (seen below in the tweet) which grabbed the attention of Johnson. Check out the Tweet below.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsVery cool man, thank you.
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 18, 2019
Amazing detail.
This project has been with me for over 10yrs🖤⚡️
Production begins this July.
Appreciate the support. #blackadam #dc https://t.co/h8TPXMbcTx
Production will start in July of 2020!
So who is Black Adam?
Thousands of years before Billy Batson became a magically-empowered hero, the wizard Shazam selected another champion. Teth-Adam or “Mighty Adam” began as a hero of humanity but then allowed his power to corrupt his ideals and desires. Now labeled Black Adam, he was exiled by Shazam but returned in the modern day. A frequent enemy to Earth’s heroes, Black Adam believes he is the right person to lead humanity and any action he takes is necessary for the greater good.
In his introduction story, Black Adam is said to be an Egyptian adult already known as Teth-Adam to those around him when the ancient wizard Shazam chooses him to be a champion. By shouting the wizard’s name, Teth-Adam draws power from a collection of deities and becomes a superhuman warrior. After deciding he would be a better ruler, he killed his pharaoh and assumed the throne. Shazam labeled him Black Adam now and exiled him to the “most distant star” in the universe.
Black Adam immediately started flying back to Earth, but it took him five thousand years to do so. By this point, Shazam had granted his power to new champions, the Marvel Family of Captain Marvel (Billy Batson), his sister Mary Marvel (Mary Batson) and their friend Captain Marvel Jr. (Freddy Freeman). Black Adam decided they were now his enemies (THE MARVEL FAMILY #1, 1945).
Following the events of the 1985-1986 limited series CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, DC history was rebooted. In his new origin story, Teth-Adam is the son of Ramesses II and impressed the wizard Shazam with his good deeds before being selected by his champion. This version of the origin said that he was corrupted by Blaze, the demonic daughter of Shazam, and had to be stopped when he turned against humanity after acting as a hero for centuries (THE POWER OF SHAZAM! #10-12, 1995-1996).
Thousands of years after Black Adam was magically imprisoned, his descendant Theo Adam absorbed his power through an enchanted scarab and became the new version of Black Adam (in 1994’s THE POWER OF SHAZAM! graphic novel).
Eventually, the real Black Adam returned and resumed a life on Earth, fighting the new champion Billy Batson and determined to once again establish himself as a just ruler.
Later comics revised this slightly, saying that Teth-Adam was native to Kahndaq not Egypt and that, after being selected by the wizard, he also served as a warrior under the leadership of Prince Khufu (one of the many incarnations of the hero Hawkman). Teth-Adam felt that his duty was to humanity but also wished he could spend more time in Kahndaq with his wife and child (JSA #22, 2001).
When his family was killed and his country conquered by the villains Vandal Savage and Ahk-ton, Mighty Adam was consumed with rage and vengeance. After killing Ahk-ton, he was determined to take back his country by force, which was now when the wizard Shazam put a stop to him (JSA #43-44, 2003). Thousands of years later when he escaped his magical imprisonment, he was still driven by this need for vengeance against what he deemed to be injustice and determined to be a better ruler for Kahndaq.