We've been hearing about the concept of Black Adam, the villain-turned-antihero from the Shazam! comics before the idea of an actual Shazam! solo film came to fruition, mostly because Dwayne Johnson was attached to the role and he likes to talk about his upcoming projects, potential or otherwise, a lot. With Shazam! out in the world and, while not setting any box office records, doing well enough to warrant sequel and spin-off talk, the Black Adam film bubbled back up to the top of the development pot and now it has a director. Jaume Collet-Serra will tackle the job.
Collet-Serra is no stranger to what the Rock can cook up on screen, as he's recently finished working with him on Disney's Jungle Cruise movie adaptation. He'll take on the DC movie about Adam, considered the arch-nemesis of Shazam, dating all the way back to the 1940s when the hero was called Captain Marvel. He was a semi-immortal Egyptian prince who became corrupted by the magical powers imbued to him by a wizard. In more recent years, he's been seeing the error of his ways.
While the character was originally intended to face off against Shazam in the film, the concept seemed to stretch that movie's ideas too far (not to mention even Zachary Levi's charm and impressively built muscle tone would have a tough time keeping up with Mr. Iron Paradise himself), and he'll have his own movie. A potential showdown (or team up?) is possible in future.
Jungle Cruise, meanwhile, will sail in to UK cinemas on 24 July next year.
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