The Rock Confirmed To Play Black Adam In DC's "SHAZAM" Movie

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

They did some JSA tie in comics for the movie so that might explain how they came to be in the movie verse

I didn't see those.

To be blunt, the entire DCEU timeline/canon is a mess anyway so it's not like it really matters at this point. But one of the biggest and most fundamental points of Snyder's plan was that Superman was the beacon who drew the others out, Wonder Woman was around but was a cipher nobody knew existed and Batman was in the shadows as a myth, everyone else came after that, inspired by Superman revealing himself to the world.

So now, it's kinda "bad" enough that there's 80 million superheroes suddenly tripping over each other in the movies since they decided not to actually do the legwork and instead just drop them on everyone as if they'd always been there, but I mean, the toothpaste is out of the tube on that. But I mean, the JSA isn't the Suicide Squad, they're rather a big deal and this universe barely has a Justice LEAGUE, so 1. Where did these people come from? and 2. How long have they been around?

I know I pretty much have to just accept ANY explanation and shrug, at this point, I just hope it doesn't stretch credibility TOO much, is all. Like, "They TOO have been operating secretly in the shadows since 50+ years ago... just like This One and That One and..." Like that would just be the worst since they've run that well dry by now between Wonder Woman and the Squad and everything else. Plus it just ruins the entire point of MoS and everything it was designed to set up. "Superman was the Very First Super-Hero and his appearance changed the whole world! ...Except not, because there were actually like 100 other guys first, AND the government knew about them and just decided to act all shocked when Superman showed up." Like, it just creates a lot of really bad wrinkles in the storytelling.

Even "This JSA showed up 5 minutes ago" would be a bit of a stretch from a different direction, but I mean, it would be better, kind of, a little.

[Coola Yagami]

Like in the movies, the Justice League pretty much don't exist. They've only been united in one movie and I forgot if the world at large knew about them. I'm not sure how popular the Avengers were to the world in their first movie, but they've been around long enough that several movies in the world at large now knows of them. But yeah, the JL barely exists and now they want to say the JSA is a big deal that's either always been around or is known by all?

They really dropped the ball.

[Leo656]

I mean, most/all of the movies we're getting Now weren't supposed to come out until AFTER Justice League 3. Therein lies the problem. JL3 would have ended with Superman uniting literally the entire world behind him to stop Darkseid - the JLA, the Marines, the Amazons, the Atlanteans, everybody - and after that would be the foretold "New Age Of Heroes". But see, people thought the Blues in Snyder's color palette weren't Blue Enough, pitched a giant hissy fit, and so all that went in the garbage.

It's even worse because most people really liked Snyder's Justice League once they finally saw it. There was a lot of, "Ohhhhhh I see where this was all going, now" and they were happy with it, they wanted to see where it was gonna go. So as I was saying at the time, if people had just f*cking WAITED and let the story play out as intended, everyone would have been happy and we wouldn't be in the mess we're in Now.

So now we have all this confusion and even the movies like Flash that were designed to "fix it all" just become more convoluted as a result of all the retcons and release dates getting pushed back and all the other stuff.

Literally, if people had just shut up and let things be, everything would be Fine. But noooooooooooo. A'ight. Don't cry about how messy sh*t is now, then, you forfeited your right to do that back in 2017.

I mean, *I* will still cry about how messy it all is Now, but that's because I was Right about everything Back Then and history has vindicated me in that. So I'll just sit here with my giant box of "Told Ya So's" and heckle from the cheap seats.

[Leo656]

So I am seeing more and more mixed-to-negative revews but they're a bit more even-handed.

Common criticisms seem to be:

- Rock is too stoic and bland. To be expected, it's a stoic character and frankly, Dwayne is not a good actor. He's great at playing Himself, a goofy, cheerful, smiling dipsh*t but he can't really convey emotions or depth well. So I completely believe this is dead-on, but also, that it's kind of to be expected.

- Should have been a JSA movie with Black Adam as the villain, and it would have worked MUCH better than it being "A Black Adam movie with the JSA crammed in". Lots of praise for the JSA, especially Dr. Fate, but Adam himself comes off one-note.

This was obviously WB bending over for the biggest star in Hollywood and his massive ego, but yeah, it makes sense and it's something I feared from the jump.

- Lots and lots of second-rate "homages" to Snyder's visual style - blatantly stolen shots from Snyder's DC movies, the "slow-mo/speed-up" effect being used often, etc. - and they just don't land well because... Zack Snyder didn't direct it.

- Big chunks of the movie seem to be missing, and it affects everything from plot to pacing. We know this for a fact because again, they shot it for a hard R rating and then chopped it down to PG-13. Worked GREAT for BvS, right?!

There's other stuff too, like the plot being over-stuffed and it making no sense why the JSA would even work with a scumbag like Waller in the first place. It definitely sounds like a mixed bag of a movie for sure.

But see, the people saying this stuff are easier to believe when they don't pause every five minutes to say "Oh, by the way, I hate these movies as a rule."

Sounds like I'll think it's about a 7 out of 10 in the end, but we'll see.

I'm just gonna be the most unpopular guy in the room as usual and say that WB should have just made nice with Zack and given him this project to do. It's entirely in his wheelhouse, and if they're gonna do sh*t like "Shoot the movie One Way and then butcher it in post-production" and rip off a bunch of his shots - badly - then why not just let HIM do it since he's already done this before? Snyder doing Black Adam would be an easy 10 out of 10, especially if they let it be R Rated. Someone else pretending to be Zack Snyder... eh. 6 or 7 out of 10, sounds like.

Goes to show how much they hate the guy. Ah well.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

The Rock: "I don't want Black Adam's origin and rise to be lost in a movie he has to share with Shazam."

Also the Rock: "OK, let's put the entire Justice Society of America into the Black Adam movie."

Originally Posted by Leo656

This was obviously WB bending over for the biggest star in Hollywood and his massive ego

Totally self-serving, IMHO. Black Adam is, generally speaking, a nothing burger DC villain who has been used well maybe.... twice. As if Black Adam's "origin and rise" are held in the highest levels of comic book esteem or something.

I actually don't mind this whole thing. I generally like the Rock. But the point to me is that, as usual, I just don't like phony or woefully incompetent bull$#!( from anybody. It's like "dude, Rock. You strong armed a full movie for a D-List villain from DC and probably leveraged their need for a hit to do it. Good job and all - that's awesome for you, but don't talk to me about the "importance" of f'n Black Adam".

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

Who pissed in that dumbasses's cereal

Taking a page out of the Brie Larson/Women director's handbook

This movie isn't made for you you being the general audience

I agree with your point here for the most part, but who was this movie made for? Were there "die-hard DC fans' clamoring for a Black Adam movie? Because I'm fairly dug-into the hobby spanning collecting to sales and I've literally never heard anyone say "man once they make that Black Adam movie, I can die happy!"

Originally Posted by Leo656

- Rock is too stoic and bland.

Yeah, it's like "the Rock plays the Rock, dude. He's a one trick pony in 'serious roles' and really can only branch out into the occasional dry-comedy. You never see a movie where the Rock adapts to a character. He just goes out and does "the rock".

[Autbot_Benz]

Originally Posted by IMJ

I agree with your point here for the most part, but who was this movie made for? Were there "die-hard DC fans' clamoring for a Black Adam movie? Because I'm fairly dug-into the hobby spanning collecting to sales and I've literally never heard anyone say "man once they make that Black Adam movie, I can die happy!"

I agree only Dwayne/rock fans and maybe the small percent of fans of the character are seeing it for Black Adam. I am seeing it for my boy Dr Fate and Hawkman for a lesser extent

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

I agree only Dwayne/rock fans and maybe the small percent of fans of the character are seeing it for Black Adam. I am seeing it for my boy Dr Fate and Hawkman for a lesser extent

Yeah I think Dr. Fate is the character I'm most interested in seeing in this one too...

[Leo656]

Everyone seems to be raving about Fate, even in the bad reviews. So that's cool, I love Dr. Fate and even if the movie underwhelms then at least I know I'll enjoy That.

[TigerClaw]

Despite these reviews, I still plan on seeing it, Maybe with the new management, They can do a JSA movie.

[Autbot_Benz]

Agreed Dr Fate is awesome one of my favorite characters and one of my favorite figures I have.





Still can't get over Pierce Brosnan is playing him.

[Leo656]

Yeah Brosnan is pretty cool, he has the voice... like he maybe wouldn't have been my very first pick but I mean, there have been multiple people under the helmet anyway so you have some wiggle room as to Who it is and What they look like. If you asked "Who else?" or "Who better?", I couldn't really tell you.

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Maybe with the new management, They can do a JSA movie.

Apparently, they did, and just called it "Black Adam" by mistake.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Yeah Brosnan is pretty cool, he has the voice... like he maybe wouldn't have been my very first pick but I mean, there have been multiple people under the helmet anyway so you have some wiggle room as to Who it is and What they look like. If you asked "Who else?" or "Who better?", I couldn't really tell you.



Apparently, they did, and just called it "Black Adam" by mistake.

Birds of Prey- first time?

[Leo656]

Heh I was thinking that.

I still haven't actually seen that piece of sh*t. I doubt I ever will, there's just no f*cking reason for me, personally, to see it.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Heh I was thinking that.

I still haven't actually seen that piece of sh*t. I doubt I ever will, there's just no f*cking reason for me, personally, to see it.

Same. Like yourself, I tend to not watch stuff I feel would be a waste of time.

That's the one thing that always bothers me about the 'big time' Youtubers. Despite making tons of videos about how terrible something sounds, they still actually go watch the thing because they have to make that one 'OMG IT WAS EVEN WORSE THAN I THOUGHT' to get them views. Hate-watching is such a waste of time.

[Andrew NDB]

Now what does it mean for the DCEU if Black Adam really, really tanks?

[TigerClaw]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Now what does it mean for the DCEU if Black Adam really, really tanks?

We still have the new Shazam coming out, and the Flash.

[Leo656]

I mean, it would have to be Baywatch-level bad to "tank", and it probably isn't. I think it will do alright thanks to his built-in fanbase. It may under-perform vs. expectations but I doubt it would "tank".

So I think a better question would be "What if it 'only' makes $800 million?"

In which case... well, it's WB, so most likely... cancel everything except that stupid Lady Gaga Joker movie and the RPatz sequel nobody really wants but will accept over getting nothing at all. "New Managemant" or not, it's all WB even knows HOW to do; overreact, scorched earth, try again with more women and race-swaps.

Movie might not be great but it tanking would be pretty bad for the business so I hope it does well anyway.

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

We still have the new Shazam coming out, and the Flash.

Both of which look... really bad.

Shazam 2 looks REALLY f*cking bad.

[Andrew NDB]

There was a moderate energy in the fandom when Shazam 1 came out. But waiting 4 years between movies killed that, surely.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Now what does it mean for the DCEU if Black Adam really, really tanks?

It would be business as usual of course.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

There was a moderate energy in the fandom when Shazam 1 came out. But waiting 4 years between movies killed that, surely.

I mean, the entire hook is, "He's a super-hero... but he's ALSO a little kid!" and now he's not even a little kid anymore because WB is so f*cking ass at getting movies made in a timely fashion. And it's not like you can just plug in any random kid to play Billy Batson every time the actor ages out, that's just stupid.

Sequel makes it even worse because the first movie made the entire Marvel Family a big huge deal but THEY too are gonna age out of everything super fast. So while it was cool to see in the moment, it's also kinda like, "...That wasn't a great decision, they kinda boxed themselves into a corner here."

Captain Marvel would probably work better as a TV series than a series of films, quite frankly, and that's a big reason why. Nothing centered on a cast of children lends itself to a series of films made every 3-5 years.

I liked the first movie, the trailers made it look incredibly stupid and goofy but the movie itself was actually pretty good! The sequel looks SO bad, though, with even more bad "comedy" and Cap being a neurotic, impotent joke. THAT GUY is gonna fight Black Adam one'a these days? Seriously? He's on a therapist's couch whining about what a crummy super-hero he is! F*CKING JEEEEZIS!

Oh, also, just since I love reminding everyone about how often WB recycles its own old, often-bad ideas for super-hero movies... that bit with Cap on the shrink's couch was ripped from one of the 1998-era Superman scripts, specifically the one that was so bad they had Kevin Smith of all people try to fix it. I can't believe they're still pulling up sh*t from scripts they abandoned almost 30 years ago for being too awful to film, but again... WB.