It looks like Black Adam will see Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's antihero throw down with relatively obscure DC Comics villain Sabbac, and we may know which actor is being looked at for the role.
According to The Illuminerdi, the studio is searching for "a male in their forties to play a strong supporting role as a villain named Ishmael." They reckon this is Ishmael Gregor, aka Sabbac, and Aladdin star Marwan Kenzari is said to be in contention for the role.
In the comics, Gregor was a Russian mob boss who transformed into a powerful demon with abilities on par with Shazam's. The villain was more closely associated with that character than Black Adam, but it sounds like quite a few changes will be made to his big-screen counterpart.
This version of the demonic baddie is described as "the descendant of a murdered pharaoh", who attempts to "harness the secret magical powers of the crown of Sabaac."
Just a rumor for now (even if Kenzari is being considered for the part, he may not land it), but the source did break the news of Shahi's casting before the trades, so this is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Black Adam would already have commenced production if it wasn't for the industry-wide COVID-19 delays, but we recently found out that it's been taken off the studio's release schedule altogether and is currently undated.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.