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The Rock‘s Black Adam will be the most violent of DC Films’ PG-13 offerings. While James Gunn’s R-rated The Suicide Squad pours buckets of gore and fires a barrage of foul words, Black Adam pushes the PG-13 envelope.
Insiders reveal that Black Adam‘s script echoes the anti-hero’s brutal nature without restraint. Well, to a point. Obviously, a PG-13 film still has content boundaries; there’s only so much blood that the rating can contain.
Nevertheless, sources explain Black Adam is The Rock unleashed.
The Rock just completed filming Black Adam.
On his Instagram page, The Rock admitted that:
This has been one for the ages and easily the hardest labor and toughest grind mentally and physically of my entire career.
Image: DC Comics
The Rock has been cooking Black Adam for years. In 2007, The Rock expressed his affection for the character as New Line Cinema wanted him to play Shazam! At the time, Black Adam was planned to be Shazam!’s villain just like he was in the comic books.
But The Rock was more interested in Black Adam.
2007 may seem like a while ago; however, Black Adam is older than that.
Writer Otto Bender and artist C.C. Beck co-created Black Adam for The Marvel Family No. 1 in 1945. DC Comics didn’t even own the rights to Black Adam then. Black Adam, and his Shazam!-related properties, belonged to Fawcett Comics.
DC licensed the Shazam! characters in 1972; furthermore, by 1994, DC owned them all.
Originally a bad guy, DC switched Black Adam to more of an antihero.
The Rock’s Violent Black Adam Film Will Push Envelope Of PG-13 Rating
The Rock is playing that version. Unlike most superheroes, Black Adam has no reservations about slaying his enemies.
Insiders add that The Rock’s Black Adam has the nobility of Namor the Sub-Mariner and the savage intensity of Wolverine.
DC Films has tried mirroring Marvel Studios’ more upbeat superhero fare in recent movies such as Wonder Woman 1984, Shazam!, and Birds of Prey. Moreover, Joss Whedon attempted that tone with his Justice League and failed miserably.
Black Adam is closer to Zack Snyder’s darker-edged tone without fully succumbing to it. After all, this is a Rock movie. There will be some humor although it’ll treat the source material seriously.
This intel is based on the screenplay as Black Adam just wrapped production.
Black Adam will be released in theaters on July 29, 2022.
Related: The Rock Wants Zack Snyder’s Justice League In Black Adam Sequel
