From the WWE rumor mill: The Rock will play a villain in Suicide Squad 2

What's the story?

Hollywood entertainment site The Wrap is reporting that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be a villain in the sequel to Suicide Squad. The rumour is that this film will debut The Rock as Black Adam.

In case you didn't know...

Black Adam is the main villain of the DC Comic Shazam. The comic started in 1940 under Fawcett Comics until 1953. DC Comics then revived Shazam in 1972 and continue to use him today.

John Cena was originally in the running to play Shazam opposite The Rock but didn't make the final cut for casting.

The heart of the matter...

The Rock teased something major was happening in an interview with Fandango (the movie company, not the wrestler) this past May.

“We have a really cool surprise for Black Adam that I can’t reveal, in terms of where we will see Black Adam being introduced.”

The production for Suicide Squad 2 is tentatively scheduled to start in October 2018 with a projected release date of sometime in 2019.

The first Suicide Squad movie came out in August of 2016 and made $750 million worldwide. The film starred Will Smith as Deadshot and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.

What's next?

As you know, The Rock is a very busy man in Hollywood. His next movie is Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle; which has a release date of December 20th. Starring alongside The Rock are Karen Gillan, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart.

Author's take

I think it's great to use Suicide Squad to introduce Black Adam to those who aren't familiar with the character. It sounds like The Rock will star in at least 2 or 3 more movies as Black Adam down the road.

The dynamic of The Rock and Will Smith in the same movie will be very interesting as well. I enjoyed the first Suicide Squad and can't wait for the sequel.