‘Black Adam’ Casts ‘The Old Guard’ Star Marwan Kenzari As The Villain To Dwayne Johnson’s Anti-Hero
Black Adammay have found its villain.Marwan Kenzari, who recently caught attention as Hot Jafar in the live-actionAladdinremake before appearing in Netflix’sThe Old Guard, is in talks to join theBlack Adamcast as the villain toDwayne Johnson’s titular anti-hero.The Hollywood Reporterreported that Marwan Kenzari is in final negotiations to join theBlack Adamcast opposite Dwayne Johnson. But while THR had no news on who Kenzari would be playing, The Wrap’s Umberto Gonzalezconfirmedthat Kenzari will be playing the villain.
Now, who could be the villain to Black Adam, himself a longtime Big Bad for the superhero Shazam? Well, through DC Comics, Black Adam has been presented as both hero and villain, before finally settling into an anti-hero role, and the upcoming Johnson-starring film will take place long before Black Adam becomes the archnemesis to Zachary Levi’s Shazam in a futureShazamsequel.Black Adamwill be set in the ancient kingdom of Kahndaq, where Black Adam resides as a champion for the wizard Shazam before his fall from grace and eventual imprisonment. In DC Comics lore, his downfall came at the hands of Ahk-ton, an evil priest working with the immortal Vandal Savage, so that character is a possibility.
But The Illuminerdi, which actually broke the news ofKenzari’s castinga few months ago, reported that Kenzari was being eyed for the role of Ishmael Gregor, AKA Sabbac. There are several versions of Sabbac, but the one that The Illuminerdi names is a New York City mob boss who gains superhuman strength and demon-like appearance after initiating a ritual to possess the powers of Sabbac. This version is a foe of the superhero team The Outsiders, but Sabbac is frequently considered a villain, and sometimes associate, of Black Adam.
This isn’t the first time Kenzari has played a villain, of course, taking on the role of the evil wizard Jafar in Guy Ritchie’sAladdin. But apart from earningattention for his good looks, I can’t say he impressed much in the role. Perhaps he’ll be better suited to playing the villain opposite Johnson, whichever character he may play. Though if is playing Sabbac, it will likely be under lots of CGI effects, which is a challenge for any actor.
Plot details forBlack Adamare still mostly under wraps, but the film is set to introduce the old DC super-team, the Justice Society, with members like Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) set to appear.
Jaume Collet-Serra directsBlack Adam, which is heading toward an April production start in Atlanta.Rory HainesandSohrab Noshirvaniwrote the latest draft of the script fromAdam Sztykiel’s previous draft. Johnson,Dany GarciaandHiram Garciaof Seven Bucks Productions are producing withBeau Flynnof FlynnPictureCo.
