With David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! currently shooting, now comes an update on the solo picture for Shazam’s greatest rival, Black Adam.

For years now, Dwayne Johnson has been signed-on to play this big-time DC rogue, and originally the plan was to have Adam make his cinematic bow in the aforementioned Shazam! Those plans were soon shelved though, and Black Adam won’t be appearing in Shazam! in any form or fashion, instead waiting for that solo film to happen a little further down the line. And just when that ‘further down the line is’, Johnson has given us a bit of a tease.

Speaking to Yahoo while promoting Rampage, Johnson enthused, “The script came in, it’s great, we’re working on it. If things come together in the way we anticipate them coming together, that feels like a 2019 movie. It’s this phenomenal opportunity for us to nail the tone and make sure he’s badass. Also, we have intrinsic DNA tied to a lot of other properties in DC.”

Intrinsic DNA, eh? Well, that could well tie in with those rumours of Black Adam being introduced in Gavin O’Connor’s Suicide Squad 2.

For those not all that familiar with the Black Adam character, he debuted back in 1945’s Marvel Family #1 as Teth-Adam of Kahndaq. Depicted over the years as both an out-and-out villain and an antihero, Black Adam is one of the few characters who can pretty much match Superman toe-to-toe when it comes to powers. Whilst he has tangled with the Man of Steel and various other DC heroes over the decades, he’s best known as a Shazam villain. Shazam, of course, is young Billy Batson. When Billy shouts “Shazam!”, he turns into the legendary hero.

At present, Shazam! is set for an April 2019 release, and it looks like Black Adam may get shooting at some point in 2019.