Will Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s Black Adam save DC Universe after its axing of another superhero film, Batgirl, and The Flash controversy?
- The Rock’s new film comes at a critical time for DC, after Batgirl’s axing and Ezra Miller scandals have kept the Warner Bros. subsidiary off the pace of Marvel
- Johnson thinks the timing of his superhero debut is perfect, and that it will usher in a new era for DC, even though the road to this Black Adam movie was long
In Hollywood’s superhero era thus far, there has been one particularly conspicuous absence: while a parade of big-name actors have taken their turns donning various spandex suits, Dwayne Johnson – arguably the biggest movie star in the world – has, until now, sat out the trend.
The Rock didn’t really need a cape to prove his powers. The 1.96 metre (6ft 5in), 118kg (260lb) actor was, in many respects, already a superhero in his own right: a skyscraper-climbing hulk, a shape-shifting demigod, even a bulked-up tooth fairy.
“I was always ready and open to playing a superhero,” says Johnson. “But it had to be right and it had to feel right. I had been approached before in the past about playing a few superheroes that, ultimately, I ended up passing on. They ended up going to the right actors to play them. I just waited.”
Johnson’s entry into the superhero business comes at a crucial juncture for the DC Extended Universe, which has been plagued of late by scandal and misfires.
