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In an interview with Total Film Magazine, The Rock said an announcement on which DC Comic Book character he would be playing would soon be announced.
Rock commented, "I will say this. There's a character out there that we're going to announce very soon that I'm going to play, and I'll just say this: This character has the power of Superman, he can throw down. Just say the word. That's all I'm going to say."
"Say the word" is Rock playing coy with the fact that he could be playing either Shazam! (formerly Captain Marvel) or Shazam's arch-nemesis Black Adam.
Each character utters a magic word in order to be transformed by magical lightning into their super-powered guises.
In the case of Shazam!, the word is an acronym bringing him the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury.
In the case of Shazam!, youngster Billy Batson is turned into the super-powered adult Shazam when he utters the magic word, which would allow for Rock to not only use his physical prowess as a super-hero but also his comedic skills to play the character through the eyes of a young boy.
The character was originally created in 1939 by Fawcett Comics and became some popular that it threatened Superman's popularity. DC Comics sued over copyright infringement, leading to Fawcett shuttering the comic. DC eventually purchased the character and folded it into their comic line. In 2011, they re-named the entire character "Shazam" to prevent confusion with Marvel Comic's own, unrelated Captain Marvel character.
Reports floating around peg a Shazam! film in July 2016. At one point, Rock was attached to a previous Shazam! project (believed to be for Black Adam) but that project was eventually shelved as the DC Comic book movie strategies shifted towards a "shared universe" of inter-connected film, following the lead of Marvel's ultra-successful model.
Thanks to Michael Bowen.
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