Dwayne Johnson is officially going to star as the villain Black Adam in New Line Cinema’s superhero comic book film Shazam.
Black Adam is the arch-nemesis of Shazam, also known as Captain Marvel, who shouts the magic word “Shazam!” and gains incredible superhero powers.
The wrestler-turned-actor confirmed his involvement Wednesday morning when he tweeted out which character he would be playing in the film.
“‘Kneel at his feet or get crushed by his boot.’ My honor to become.. #BlackAdam #TheAntiHero #DCComics,” Johnson wrote, along with a photo of the two comic characters duking it out.
“Kneel at his feet or get crushed by his boot.” My honor to become.. #BlackAdam #TheAntiHero #DCComics pic.twitter.com/Qk55eNf3R7
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) September 3, 2014
According to Variety, Johnson’s character will be less of a villain and “more of an anti-hero trying to clear his name.”
“We Love Dwayne and have had nothing but success with him over the years,” said Toby Emmerich, President and COO of New Line. “When I look at Dwayne both off screen and on screen, he is such a larger than life character and it just made perfect sense to me that we put him in a DC comic movie. You look at these comic book characters and they have this certain swag and charisma that Dwayne carries with him where ever he is so that’s why this always made sense.”
Darren Lemke is set to write the script with Johnson, Variety reports. Johnson and Hiram Garcia will be producing.
