Out promoting Jumanji: The Next Level, Dwayne Johnson has naturally been fielding questions about one of his most anticipated future movies, the Shazam! adjacent anti-hero origin story Black Adam. And according to the star, who will also be a producer on the new film, we can expect to see a key element of the DC comics universe show up in the shape of the Justice Society of America.
Originally conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox during the Golden Age of DC comics, the team first appeared in late 1940, with the original membership consisting of Doctor Fate, Hour-Man, the Sandman, Atom, the Flash (Jay Garrick incarnation), Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and Hawkman. This being the comics world, the JSA has naturally been though many permutations and line-up changes since then, but both Black Adam and Shazam! have been members in the past.
Quite how the group will be incorporated into Black Adam remains to be seen, but Johnson says there will be something of them: "We will introduce you to that, the world to JSA," he tells Screen Rant.
But if you were thinking that the new movie might feature a showdown between Adam and Zachary Levi's Billy Batson/Shazam, Johnson is here with a pitcher of cold water. "Without giving too much away, it’s not in the plans right now. I think the approach that we’re talking I feel really good about, and all of the filmmakers do too as well," Johnson says. "It’s an origin story and that’s where we start it and we root it, and then we build out from there. Now, not to say Shazam isn’t on my radar. Of course Shazam is, but so is all of DC."
Jaume Collet-Serra is on to direct the film, which we now know will be out on 22 December, 2021.