Confirming recent rumors that Atom Smasher would feature in the upcoming Black Adam movie, THR reports that Noah Centineo (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before) has been cast to play the DC Comics hero.
Centineo, who has also been linked to the long-gestating Masters of the Universe movie, will join Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the titular antihero.
In the comics, Atom Smasher, aka Albert Rothstein, is a mountain of a man who has the ability to grow to pretty much any size he chooses and increase his strength exponentially. He previously appeared in live-action in an episode of The CW’s The Flash.
The Jaume Collet-Serra-directed Shazam! spinoff is also expected to feature the big-screen debuts of fellow Justice Society members Cyclone, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Dr. Fate, so keep an eye out for more casting announcements soon. A rumor that WB might be considering a JSA movie if Black Adam is a success did the rounds recently, but that obviously remains to be seen.
Black Adam was originally scheduled to begin shooting this month, but the COVID-19 pandemic made that impossible. It looked like the production wasn't going to suffer too significant a delay (Johnson recently claimed that cameras were set to roll in August of September), but the latest update reckons it'll now be early 2021.