Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson has told the Sci Fi Wire that he will portray the character of Black Adam in the upcoming Shazam! movie, which Peter Segal (Get Smart) is directing from a script by John August (The Corpse Bride -- see 'Shazam! A New Writer').  Last week August turned in a 'final' script and filming is expected to get underway before the end of the year.

Johnson told the Sci Fi Wire that he took the role of the intriguing, morally ambiguous Black Adam instead of Captain Marvel at the behest of fans at Comic-Con, who told him the character of Black Adam was much more conflicted and interesting than that of the 'big red cheese.'