ROCK OF AGES

DWAYNE JOHNSON HAD NEVER PLAYED A COMIC-BOOK SUPERHERO ON SCREEN, BUT THAT'S ABOUT TO CHANGE WITH DC'S MORALLY FLEXIBLE BLACK ADAM

- RICHARD EDWARDS

MOST ACTORS PLAYING superheroes don't look like superheroes until they go through a rigorous training regime and step into their expensively tailored super-togs. Before he showed up as Ant-Man, for example, Paul Rudd was better known for bringing the aroma of Sex Panther when Ron Burgundy's Channel 4 news team assembled. Chris Pratt, meanwhile, made his name as the slobby lead singer of Mouse Rat in Parks And Recreation before guarding the galaxy as Star-Lord.

Dwayne Johnson is not most actors. In fact, if ever there was a movie star precision-engineered to fill a skin-tight spandex suit, it's the artist sometimes known as the Rock. Obviously there's that physique, honed over a couple of decades in the rings of WWE. But there's also the grin, the mastery of the quippy one-liner, and - mostly thanks to the Fast & Furious franchise - an ability to play fast and loose with the laws of physics. 

All of which makes it somewhat improbable that, unless you count voicing Krypto the Superdog in DC League Of Super-Pets, Black Adam marks his debut in a bona fide superhero movie albeit playing a comic book veteran who’s less Superman-style boy scout than an antihero who'd be right at home in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.

“We all know that Dwayne Johnson can save the world, so everyone felt like he’s a real-life superhero,” producer Beau Flynn tells SFX. And yet he hadn’t played one. It’s funny when I tell people it’s Dwayne’s first time as a superhero, people almost don’t believe me.”

“Audiences are so used to seeing that Dwayne Johnson million-watt smile,” adds fellow producer Hiram Garcia. However, Black Adam isn’t a guy who smiles. He’s a guy who makes people very uncomfortable, filled with some darkness and a whole lot of rage. That’s always been an aspect that’s made this character so intriguing.