Can you smell what The Rock is killing?
Apparently there’s a lot of it in Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson’s long-in-the-works entry into the DC Comics Extended Universe as the almighty-powered Kahndaqian antihero also known as Teth-Adam. The film was showcased at San Diego Comic-Con Saturday, where Johnson referred to it as a reset for the DCEU: “We’re ushering in a new age of the DC Universe… It was time for a shift and to listen to the fans.”
“His body count in this already surpasses anything we’ve done before,” Johnson’s longtime friend and producing partner Hiram Garcia told Yahoo Entertainment Saturday (watch above). “That is one of the great things about Black Adam is that he will not pull his punches.” Adam doesn’t have the moral code of, say, Batman, who keeps putting the Joker into prison only to see the rogue escape and kill more people. “With Black Adam, you will not have that question.”
“There’s some really cool kills in it,” teased Jaume Collet-Serra, who also recently directed Johnson in Disney’s (far less violent) Jungle Cruise.
Johnson wasn’t ready to confirm the fall release will have his highest kill count, but he will say it’s his most savage.
“I don’t know if it’s the highest body count, but what I can tell you is it’s the most raging and violent dismemberment,” he said laughing.
Despite the film’s PG-13 rating, producers Garcia and Beau Flynn say they’re trying to surpass the body count of Keanu Reeves’s carnage fests in the John Wick series.
“John Wick levels is pretty fair,” said Aldis Hodge, who plays Justice Society of America (JSA) leader Carter Hall, aka Hawkman. “It’s a new type of superhero. And we take risks and chances that people haven’t seen.”
“Well, John Wick doesn’t just rip arms off of bodies, and fly them up in the air,” Johnson said of the comparison. “But that’s [Adam’s] M-O.”
Watch our full interview with Johnson, Hodge, Collet-Serrra, Garcia, Flynn and co-stars Noah Centineo and Quintessa Swindell above.
— Video produced by Jen Kucsak and edited by Jimmie Rhee
Black Adam opens Oct. 21, 2022.
Watch the trailer:
