Dwayne Johnson has found his first major co-star for Black Adam. Noah Centineo has joined the cast of the long-gestating DC Comics adaptation as Atom Smasher. This marks the first bit of major casting, aside from The Rock, for the upcoming movie, which has been in development at Warner Bros./New Line Cinema for years. With Centineo’s casting, things appear to be moving in the right direction.
According to a new report, Noah Centineo has signed on to star in Black Adam. Plot details are largely being kept under wraps, but Dwayne Johnson has positioned the character, historically a villain in the pages of DC Comics, primarily of Shazam, as an anti-hero. Atom Smasher is closely associated with Black Adam. The character has the ability to control his molecular structure. Additionally, he can manipulate his size, strength and durability. The character first appeared as Nukklon in 1983, but debuted as Atom Smasher in JSA Secret Files and Origins #1 in 1999. A version of the character appeared in an episode of The Flash on The CW.
Noah Centineo got his breakout role in Netflix’s hit rom-com To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Centineo returned for the sequel, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, which was released earlier this year, and is also set to star in To All the Boys: Always and Forever, Lara Jean. The actor has also been tapped to play He-Man in the upcoming Masters of the Universe reboot. Some of Centineo’s other credits include The Fosters, The Perfect Date and Charlie’s Angels.
Black Adam has been in the works, in some form, for the better part of a decade, with Dwayne Johnson long-attached to play the lead. Originally, the idea was to have the character appear as the main villain in Shazam. Those plans changed when Johnson proposed giving the villain a solo movie first. The hope is that Johnson will cross paths with Zachary Levi’s Shazam at some point down the line, but it remains to be seen when that would happen. Shazam 2 is currently in the works. However, it is not expected that Johnson will appear in the sequel.
Jaume Collet-Serra, who recently worked with The Rock on Disney’s Jungle Cruise, is set to direct. Originally, the plan was to begin filming this summer but the industry-wide shutdown prevented that from taking place. It is not known at this time when filming will begin. Beau Flynn, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia and Johnson are set to produce.
At present, Black Adam is set to arrive on December 22, 2021. Though that date is very much subject to change, as Warner Bros. has done a lot of shuffling with its release calendar in recent months. We can expect to learn more about the movie at the DC FanDome event, which is scheduled for August 22. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as any further details are made available. This news comes to us via The Hollywood Reporter.
