Home Entertainment Just which DC comic book character is Dwayne Johnson going to play?

Just which DC comic book character is Dwayne Johnson going to play?

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Earlier today we saw Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson charging giant boar and doing a sterling job of remembering his name as the titular Hercules. As a 6ft5 walking mountain of muscle, there just couldn’t have been a better physical match to play a mythological demi-god. Or even better, a descendant of the ancient heroes of myth: a comic book superhero. Johnson’s name has been attached to a number of super powered projects in the past, but they all fizzled and died for one reason or another. Recently though, he once again threw his name into the cape wearing ring, and now he’s elaborated on that (via CBR), hinting that he’s clearly been picked by DC Comics\Warner Bros to play somebody major. He just wants us to guess who.

“Like everyone here in the room, I love superheroes, and we’ve been having ongoing discussions, myself and DC, for years about the right character. What would the right character be? And that’s another thing, too. It just had to be right. I won’t tell you who it is, but I’ll tell you the three qualities we’re looking for and I’ll let you guys figure it out, This is going to be fun. Here are the three qualities:

“The first quality we were looking for is that he had to be extremely complex and have a lot going on and what that does for me as an actor and for the studio, just gives us space that we can explore his complexities. The other quality is that the character we were looking for had to be well known but never brought to life. That does, again as an actor, is that it gives me a little bit of space and it just gives me a chance to put an imprint into his personality with the set of tools that I can bring to the table and put a very unique twist on his personality but still pay homage to who he is. The third thing and most important is that he had to be a badass mother***ker and on a Superman level of power where he could throw down.

“In those three qualities, I’m happy we’ve found that character and right now we’re out to a lot of writers.”

Now we know that Johnson has wanted to bring beer guzzling anti-hero Lobo to the screen for ages now, even being cast as the Main Man in director Brad Peyton’s planned adaptation which eventually fell apart. The same fate that befell the Shazam movie in which he was to play the villain, Black Adam. It’s very interesting to note that both those characters definitely check all three of Johnson’s boxes, so could they be who he’s talking about?

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By the sound of things (the last line about looking for writers), this character will also be getting his own solo movie, so the previous speculation about him playing Darkseid or Doomsday in a Justice League movie (something I would have loved) may be completely off base.

It could also be Martian Manhunter, as he has a very interesting and unique story to tell, has never been seen on screen, can go toe to green shapeshifting toe with Superman, and as the Justice League’s most prominent member throughout its many incarnations, is definitely fitting of a solo movie.

I’ve seen all sorts of other shots in the dark on the internet (Jon Stewart’s Green Lantern, Amazo, Bane, Mongul, Despero, etc), but in my opinion, it has to be between Lobo, Martian Manhunter and Black Adam, with my preference leaning towards the latter. Johnson has been in talks with DC for several years in playing Adam, and the character could make for one immensely complex arc. Just like in the comic, a solo film could see him start out as a hero, gaining his powers from the wizard Shazam in ancient times, but getting darker and darker until he eventually becomes the kind-of villain we know him to be in modern times. Then that could lead into a Captain Marvel/Shazam film, focusing on Billy Batson being picked by the wizard to replace Adam and take him down.

Either way, this is all just speculation until Johnson and the folks at Warner Bros stop playing coy with us (which I suspect will happen in July at Comic Con). Until then though, what are your crazy guesses? Snapper Carr, anyone? Ma Hunkel perhaps?

Last Updated: March 26, 2014

11 Comments

  1. Sergeant Rock. Make it happen.

    Reply

    • Skyblue

      March 26, 2014 at 14:11

      I wanna see a Rogue Trooper movie first.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        March 26, 2014 at 14:16

        OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good idea! 2000AD has some awesome characters.

        Slaine will make Conan cry in the corner like a little girl.

        Reply

        • Skyblue

          March 26, 2014 at 14:21

          Not Conan The Barbarian (original), THAT Conan was the only Conan.
          But yeah, I grew up on a steady diet of 2000 A.D. annuals. You ever try the Rogue Trooper game? Was truly a lot of fun and difficult to put down.

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 26, 2014 at 14:23

            I bought it on gog just the other day, sitting in my download queue atm.

          • Skyblue

            March 27, 2014 at 10:09

            Awesome!

  2. CypherGate

    March 26, 2014 at 13:59

    Lobo would be crazy

    Reply

  3. Alien Emperor Trevor

    March 26, 2014 at 14:00

    While not appropriate for him, I’d really get my childish glee & geek on if DC released something with Firestorm, the Creature Commandos or I, Vampire.

    Reply

  4. Chuck Norris

    March 26, 2014 at 16:16

    Danny Trejo for LOBO

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      March 27, 2014 at 10:26

      They would even save money as they’d barely need any makeup!

      Reply

  5. Gareth L (That eXCheez Guy)

    March 26, 2014 at 16:24

    Alfred.

    Reply

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