The Rock Teases Black Adam Vs. Superman, Shazam Casting, & Future Of 'G.I. Joe'
Dwayne Johnson is keeping busy as usual. The actor, who's currently shooting Rampage in Atlanta, has a handful of big popcorn movies on his schedule, including Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Skyscraper, and Shazam! He recently teased his future in the DC Extended Universe and posted photos from Rampage and provided an update on another G.I. Joe movie.
Below, get the latest updates on the next Dwayne Johnson movies.
Rampage Set Photos
Johnson plays primatologist Davis Okoye in Brad Peyton's (San Andreas) video game adaptation. Okoye's best pal in the world, a silverback gorilla named George, is one of the three animals affected by a genetic experiment, which makes him and this new alligator and wolf friends very big and very vicious. Okoye, who's more of a fan of animals than a people person, tries to find an antidote with a genetic engineer, played by Naomie Harris (Moonlight), to stop all the destruction and save George.
Johnson shared a photo of himself and Harris from the set of the "mega monster movie" on his Instagram:
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Now here's Johnson without the cuffs on:
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Black Adam and Shazam!
Johnson has been attached to play Black Adam in Shazam! for three years now. We don't know when we'll first see him interact with other members of the DCEU, but it's rumored he could appear in the next Superman film. The actor once posted a photo on Instagram with Henry Cavill with the line: "Today we drink like gentleman and come together as friends. We're excited for what the future brings."
When Fandango asked if a brawl between Black Adam and Superman was possible, Johnson replied: "One fine day... that's coming. That's in the cards." Another question about the DC Universe came from We've Got This Covered. When asked who he'd like to see star as young Billy Baston's superhero alter ego, Shazam, Johnson suggested Armie Hammer (Free Fire):
Let's see. But for example, I'm going to throw out a name out there, and I want to see how the fans will react to it. A guy who I met, I went 'Wow! That guy is such a cool guy! He is a lot bigger than I thought he would be.' And when I walked away, I remember telling our producer, who I have worked with for a long time, we both looked at each other and was like 'Possibly Shazam?!' and we went 'Yes!'. I'm not even going to say his name, I'm just going to say Lone Ranger.
Hammer was once going to play Batman in George Miller's famously canceled Justice League film. The 6'5" actor does look like a superhero, and he does have the charisma for it.
The Future of G.I. Joe
Another franchise Johnson helped inject a little life into was G.I. Joe. It's been four years since G.I. Joe: Retaliation – an improvement over The Rise of Cobra that was still underwhelming – came out. Since its release, we've heard little about G.I. Joe 3, although scheduling was a potential reason for the wait.
Johnson doesn't know whether Roadblock is involved in the future of G.I. Joe, but he believes there's more Paramount can do with the world (via Cinemablend):
We have talked with Paramount. ... They have a big writers' room with Transformers. With G.I. Joe, too. But the world of G.I. Joe, what's exciting about that is, it's just an opportunity to build out. Now, we've made two G.I. Joes. What they can do is phenomenal, right? When you think about M.A.S.K., and you think about G.I. Joe, and you think about the world that they can build out. I think, if they are interested in bringing Roadblock back, great, let's talk about it. But I wish them the best of luck. I loved working in that movie and the franchise, and if I didn't do it again, I'm great with them, and I wish them the best of luck. But I do hope they build it out really nicely, and I think they can.
A G.I. Joe 3 isn't as enticing as some of Johnson's other projects, like Disney's Jungle Cruise, the Fast and Furious spin-off potentially starring his Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham's Shaw, and Shane Black's Doc Savage film. Fitting another G.I. Joe film into his schedule in the near future sounds impossible, but considering how much work the actor gets done in a year, maybe he's able to slow time down at this point.