Jason Merritt/Getty, YouTube screengrab
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will play antihero Black Adam in an upcoming Warner Bros.' film.
Johnson announced on Twitter that he will play antihero Black Adam in a future Warner Bros.' film.
"Kneel at his feet or get crushed by his boot." My honor to become.. #BlackAdam #TheAntiHero #DCComics pic.twitter.com/Qk55eNf3R7
- Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) September 3, 2014
Last month, the Associated Press reported that Johnson was up for two roles, that of superhero Shazam and his nemesis Black Adam.
Johnson has been vocal on Twitter about his involvement in a "Shazam" movie for some time. Back in March, the actor cited Black Adam as his favorite comic character, so it shouldn't be a big surprise he opted for the darker role.
For those unfamiliar with the characters, both are pretty similar to DC's other popular superhero, Superman.
Shazam is actually a young boy named Billy Batson who can turn into a grown-up superhero as fast as he can say the word, you guessed it, Shazam. Upon speaking the word, he's bestowed with the powers of six Gods. Black Adam is an ancient Egyptian prince who once had the same powers as Baston but became consumed by his want for more power. As you could guess, he and Shazam aren't on the best of terms. Adam's basically bent on destroying Shazam.
In recent years, DC Comics' has rewritten the character as an antihero seeking to reclaim his name as opposed to a straight-out villain.
It's a smart move for Warner Bros. since Marvel has previously found success with its antihero character, Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston on screen. The "Thor" character has quickly become one of Marvel's most popular characters. An appearance by Hiddleston at last year's San Diego Comic-Con sent fans into a frenzy.
Variety reports Warner Bros. is already moving forward with a "Shazam" movie with Darren Lemke ("Jack the Giant Slayer") writing the script and Hiram Garcia ("Hercules") producing.
Warner Bros. has already registered a domain for ShazamMovie.com which redirects to a Warner Bros.' page.
It seems like a bit of a misstep for Warner Bros. who could have taken advantage of announcing the news at San Diego Comic-Con in July rather than allowing Johnson to break the news in a tweet.