Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is Black Adam in the 2019 movie, Shazam, and fans are very excited. However, since Shazam is the main hero of the film, why did The Rock choose to play the villain instead? The man himself finally shared details with the world.
The Rock had been tied to the Shazam project for a number of years before Warner Bros. finally chose to kick things into high gear with the creation of the DC Cinematic Multiverse. So why, after all, this time did The Rock decided to play Black Adam? Well, the character is more interesting than Shazam.
He revealed this in an interview with Digital Spy after he was asked why he didn't choose the role of Shazam.
"Because I felt ultimately, and this is with all due respect to Shazam/Billy Batson, it's a mythology that I love; it's been with me for almost 10 years now; what made me choose Black Adam? I just felt Black Adam was inherently more interesting to me because I felt there were more layers to Black Adam starting out as a slave and then ultimately becoming the anti-hero who we enjoy today."
We know there are many Shazam fans out there, but let's be honest here, The Rock is right. In every aspect, Black Adam is more of an interesting character when compared with Shazam, and that is why we are glad The Rock has thrown his weight behind the character.
When it comes down to Shazam, he's just a 12-year-old boy who was chosen by the wizard, Shazam, to be the newest champion of magic. He was given the powers to transform into an adult superhero when he utters the words, "Shazam." From our standpoint, that's not very interesting, but it doesn't mean Shazam isn't a good superhero character.
As for Black Adam, who was known as Teth-Adam back in his day, he was a slave who was also approached by the wizard, Shazam. Teth-Adam acquired powers from the old wizard but chose to use those powers for evil. It didn't take long for the wizard to banish Adam by sending him 4,000 miles into space.
Black Adam returned centuries later, only to find out there's a new champion of magic in the form of a child.
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