Years before his DC debut as Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson was interested in playing a Marvel hero, even reaching out to Marvel boss Kevin Feige.
Dwayne Johnson has crafted for himself an incredible film career. Even though many of his movies lately have underperformed or bombed at the box office, the wrestler-turned-actor still boasts huge popularity. Famous for his typical hardcore action roles, Johnson has been a favorite of comic book fans as a popular fan cast.
However, we all know how well it turned out when he finally took on the DC role of Black Adam. A huge misstep that misfired quite badly, there was also a time that Johnson requested Marvel Boss Kevin Feige to cast him in a Marvel role.
Dwayne Johnson Wanted to Play a Popular Marvel Character Years Before Black Adam Bombed
Dwayne Johnson is among the most famous celebrities in the world currently. Apart from his business and wrestling career, Johnson has successfully become one of the most followed actors of all time as well. Thanks to his physicality and persona, fans for years have been fan-casting him in several comic book roles.
A popular fan cast for DC’s Black Adam, the actor had a true taste of failure when he finally debuted as the titular anti-hero. Despite being poised to usher in a new era for The Rock’s career, the film ultimately failed to resonate with the audiences. But before he debuted as the DC superhero, the actor once wanted to be cast as Marvel’s Luke Cage.
Portrayed by Mike Colter in the Defenders Saga and two seasons of Netflix’s Luke Cage, Joshnon apparently even asked Marvel boss Kevin Feige to cast him as Cage in 2013. Back in 2013, Feige remarked to Collider that Johnson’s name was up in potential casts for one or the other Marvel roles, prompting the wrestler-actor to tweet:
While we know that his wish never came true and he ultimately ended up portraying Black Adam, it is a massive what-if to imagine had Johnson been roped in to play the unbreakable ex-con.
With the Defenders Saga already part of the official Marvel timeline and characters like Daredevil and Punisher on their way to the MCU, we might, after all, get to see Johnson’s wish come true. But for now, it remains a long-forgotten dream.
Dwayne Johnson Wanted to Usher a New Era for DC with Black Adam
Dwayne Johnson has been a popular choice for the role of Black Adam. However, his debut as the titular DC character turned out to be a massive failure, garnering just 39% on Rotten Tomatoes and grossing $393 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) against a rumored budget of $260 million (via THR).
A passion project of the actor-wrestler for decades, the film was a massive disappointment for fans who were eagerly awaiting the actor to make his debut in the superhero verse. Having described it as one of the most important movies of his career, the actor also wanted to usher in a new era for DC with Black Adam.
In addition to the hierarchy of power that I’ve been talking about, this pendulum swing [will] usher in a new era of the DC Universe. A new antihero era; a new era of tone, and a new era of story.
Stated Johnson in an interview with Screen Rant. A pretty massive claim to make, it seems unlikely that the actor would ever return as the character under the leadership of James Gunn.
While Dwayne Johnson already seems to have moved on with his career, rejoining the Fast & Furious franchise and making a comeback in Disney’s Moana 2 and Moana live-action, we will have to wait and watch if another superhero role is in the cards for the actor.
Black Adam is available to be streamed on Netflix.
