Who did DC cast as Black Adam?
According to Twitter, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be cast as the villain/antihero Black Adam in the upcoming DC Comics Shazam! movie. Now, I know it’s a little late to hit the inter-webs about this, but I feel it’s still a topic of discussion amongst friends and, quite possibly, something we think about ourselves. If I am being honest with you, I did have to Google both Shazam and Black Adam before getting started on this. Being a comic book aficionado, I pride myself on knowing innumerable characters, story arcs, etc… but I can honestly say that I know next to nothing about either of the starring characters for the upcoming movie. I know the small details of course.
Shazam is a small child that goes by the name Billy Batson and when he feels the desire to turn into the great Captain Marvel he simply has to scream Shazam! However, the problem that I am seeing with so many of the superhero movies today, is that there is no build up to the character, and this is more true in regards to Shazam than many of the movies that have been released in the last few years. I understand that Captain Marvel has been around since the 1940s, but he has almost always been a B character at best, standing not so tall in comparison to the poster boy of DC comics, Superman. DC has a massive universe but I don’t think anyone will argue that they rely heavily on both Superman and Batman to get them out of any pinch that may arise. That method will run its course soon enough and the production house will begin to close in on itself.
In order to care about these characters, or even to simply get excited about them (which is hugely important in relation to creating a successful movie), there has to be a stronger push on the comic-book end! These companies started in comics and they need to go back to their roots. Prior to releasing a film, come out with new story arcs pertaining to the character in order to help build more hype.
Grow your audience.
This will allow you to expand on the story within the movie as opposed to the production company having to rely on visual masturbation to increase sales. People are getting more excited about who is playing the character rather than what the movie is about and this is a recipe for disaster. Comic books are definitely “in” at the moment, but with the over abundance of movies being made, we are falling short of a story and its origins.
They want us to kneel at their feet or be crushed by their boots when it comes to movies being released, but I say we stop pumping movies out based only off of superheroes and whom we can get to play them and start making the actual stories better. If the right marketing is set into place then comic book sales will rise prior to the release of the film. This will then lead to higher box office sales for the movie when it does come out and after its release not only will comic book sales continue to rise, but merchandise revenue and toy sales will increase as well. Stop making movies as an after though and let us get excited through the characters themselves.
