There was a time when Black Adam was going to make his DCEU debut in Shazam!, with the movie exploring each of their origin stories before delivering the epic fight fans have waited years to see in live-action. Warner Bros. ultimately chose to head down a different route, of course, with the characters getting their own movies before (hopefully) crossing paths down the line.
What we didn't know was the crucial role actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson played in ensuring that Shazam! and Black Adam would be two completely separate projects.
"The original plan, maybe five or six years ago I think, was to tell the two origin stories of Shazam! and Black Adam in the same movie. That's what we had worked on," Johnson revealed during a recent press event attended by ComicBook.com. "The script was delivered. When we all read the script, I immediately felt like, 'We have to separate these two movies. We have to honor Shazam! and that origin story and what that is and what that can be for the fans, and then we also have to tell our story, too, as well.'"
"I think in separating them, with the majority of the world not knowing Black Adam if you weren't a serious comic book fan, it was important I think to separate them and tell each story respectively."
Based on the reaction to 2019's Shazam!, it's fair to say that giving each of these characters room to breathe in their own movies was the right decision. Hopefully, Black Adam is just as good as David F. Sandberg's film, because if it disappoints fans, it could derail any potential plans for the two magically charged characters to team up or battle in any sort of crossover.
At the same event, producer Beau Flynn revealed that splitting the movies was as simple as a single phone call from Johnson. "I got a phone call very early in the morning from Dwayne Johnson which is always very intimidating," he recalls. "He called Hiram and I, he just said, 'Brothers, we're gonna make Black Adam. We're gonna tell this story. It's so big and so important,' and that was it."
Following hot on this movie's heels will be Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and if there's not some sort of tease for a future meeting, well, it will have been a major blunder on Warner Bros.' part!
Black Adam is set to be released in theaters on October 21, later this year.