'Suicide Squad 2' Might Introduce Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam

Suicide Squad 2 is going to happen whether you like it or not. But here's some potentially interesting news: rumors abound that Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam will make his first DCEU appearance in the film, setting the character up for his future solo adventure. Black Adam is one of DC's supervillains and sometimes anti-hero, primarily known for being the enemy of superhero Shazam.

While reaction to the DCEU as a whole has been mixed, it's safe to assume almost everyone disliked the weird mess that was Suicide Squad. Yet Suicide Squad 2 is moving forward, with The Accountant filmmaker Gavin O'Connor helming the sequel. The first film introduced a series of supervillains recruited by the government for dirty deeds. It was sort of like The Dirty Dozen if everyone in The Dirty Dozen dressed like they shopped at Hot Topic. The sequel would presumably feature more of the same, bringing back Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, and all the other goofball characters along with them. But an interesting new twist has been added to the mix.

The Wrap reports that there's talk of introducing the character Black Adam, to be played by Dwayne Johnson, into the film. The Wrap says they've heard rumors from production insiders who say the plot will involve the Suicide Squad on a mission to track down Black Adam. Johnson has been attached to play Black Adam since at least 2007. The originally plan was to have the character appear in the Shazam! film, since Black Adam is primarily a Shazam villain. The plan changed, however, to give Black Adam his own stand-alone film which is currently in pre-production with Undateable creator Adam Sztykiel writing the script.

Now, since the plan is to start production on Suicide Squad 2 in October 2018, the character's first real on-screen appearance will be in the sequel, if The Wrap's report is correct. Johnson is clearly all-in on playing the part, having remained attached to play the part for almost ten years now. Back in 2007, Johnson told Sci-Fi Wire "Well, to be honest with you...what I would like to see is for the fans to decide who they would like me to play...Considering how passionate the fans are about this, I said, 'I don't believe it's up to the studio or the director or myself.' So there's [Captain Marvel]. And there's Black Adam. And I said, 'So, you guys let me know who?' And across the board, it was all Black Adam."

Johnson gave an update on his commitment to the character earlier this year when he took to Instagram to post this message:

"Had a very cool and strategic meeting with the heads of DC about their entire universe. As a hard core DC fan, to get a real sense of the tonal shifts and developments coming in these future movies has me fired up. Something we, as DC fans have all been waiting for for a very long time....Hope, optimism & FUN...Even when talking about the the most ruthless villain/anti-hero of all time finally coming to life. Prepare yourselves DC Universe."

"Optimism and fun" don't exactly call to mind Suicide Squad, but here's hoping the DCEU has learned from their mistakes of the first movie and will strive to improve the premise for Suicide Squad 2.