The superstar actor has already signed on to play the DC villain—and kind-of-antihero—Black Adam, but instead of debuting in his own film, the character may appear in Suicide Squad 2, according to a report from The Wrap.
Sources told the website that “current plans” for the Suicide Squad sequel would involve the team—including Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Will Smith’s Deadshot—going after a “weapon of mass destruction”. But this would be no ordinary weapon: The target would be Johnson’s Black Adam.
Johnson seemed to hint at this possibility back in a May Fandango interview, saying: “We have a really cool surprise for Black Adam that I can’t reveal, in terms of where we will see Black Adam being introduced.”
In the DC Comics world, Black Adam is best known as the nemesis to Shazam. A battle between the two characters could be a major part of the DC Film slate following Justice League and Aquaman, which are being released in November 2017 and December 2018, respectively.
Zachary Levi (Chuck, Thor: The Dark World) has signed on to play Shazam, while Johnson is expected to star in a solo Black Adam film in the future. (It might be tough to find some free time for Johnson between his work on Skyscraper, Rampage, Season 4 of Ballers, and all the other projects he has going on through his Seven Bucks Productions banner. But, hey, that’s why Johnson is the hardest-working man in Hollywood.) DC’s original plan was to feature Black Adam and Shazam facing off in the Shazam film, but DC decided to change up its plans following a meeting with Johnson in January 2017.
Suicide Squad 2, directed by Gavin O’Connor, is expected to be released in 2019.
