Dwayne Johnson teases future DCEU projects for Black Adam characters. After being attached to play the role since 2014, the former WWE superstar will finally make his superhero debut with the upcoming Black Adam movie directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. So far, there is only a vague idea about the plot, but reports suggest that Johnson's Man in Black will resurface after being wrongfully imprisoned in Kahndaq 5000 years ago. Earlier, the Black Adam trailer teased the titular anti-hero's tragic backstory, warning that the vengeful warrior could potentially mislay his moral compass as he seeks brutal justice for the crimes against him and his family.
While Johnson's turn as a superhero is undoubtedly anticipated, fans are also looking forward to the cinematic debut of the Justice Society of America in Black Adam, an organization of superhero underdogs who are out to establish truth and peace. The JSA includes Aldis Hodge's Carter Hall/Hawkman and Pierce Brosnan's Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate as its senior members. Noah Centineo and Quintessa Swindell also star as the two newer recruits, Albert "Al" Rothstein/Atom Smasher and Maxine Hunkel/Cyclone, respectively. The JSA seems to have a complicated relationship with Johnson's Teth Adam, potentially even facing off against him at some point. But while the full scope of their story isn't clear, Johnson isn't ruling out their potential appearances in other DCEU projects.
In a new interview with Den of Geek, Johnson teases the DCEU future of the Justice Society of America. Per the star, one of the core goals of Black Adam was to spawn a larger franchise, and thus, the JSA was introduced to facilitate that. Johnson says that if viewers respond well to Black Adam and its new superheroes, which he is hopeful they will, then the JSA members would surely get their own spin-off TV shows and movies. Read what Johnson says below:
The whole goal was that our film was going to set off a larger universe, where we were able to introduce the JSA and then also build from there. If audiences respond to these characters—which we believed that they would, and now we see that they do—we want to honor their mythologies and build out their stories on their own in terms of spin-offs, movies, TV shows, and things like that. That was always important.
It's an established precedent in the DCEU to launch franchises through supporting characters from well-performing movies. James Gunn's 2021 critical hit The Suicide Squad gave John Cena's character a TV show, Peacemaker, while Matt Reeves' standalone feature The Batman also paved the way for an upcoming spinoff series for Colin Farrell's Penguin. Given these examples, it wouldn't be something out-of-the-ordinary for the JSA superheroes in Black Adam to get solo TV shows or movies. After all, every actor portraying a JSA character possesses widely recognized star power and social cachet that could be parlayed into successful independent projects.
Since Brosnan and Hodge are both known quantities, it would make sense for DC to consider separate feature films for their characters moving forward. Centineo and Swindell are rising stars, and Atom Smasher and Cyclone have complex backstories in Black Adam, so their arcs appear ripe for spinoff TV shows. There are a lot of other beloved DC characters whose stories overlap with the JSA members', and potential spinoffs could also allow those heroes and villains to be brought to life, expanding DCEU's horizons beyond what many could have imagined. Of course, the primary stipulation is that Black Adam connects with audiences and cleans up at the box office. There is surely a definitive interest in the movie, and hopefully the promotions at Black Adam's SDCC Hall H panel will boost its commercial prospects further.
Source: Den of Geek
