Dwayne Johnson to Play a DC Superhero, But Which One?

Dwayne Johnson has wanted to play a superhero for a while now. I guess The Tooth Fairy didn’t count. (God, how I love this picture.) Now he’s told reporters at this year’s CinemaCon that he’s been in talks to star in as a DC Comics superhero movie for a while now, but instead of just telling us which one it is, or just saying “no comment,” he’s turned it into a guessing game. Our own SuperHeroHype reported from the convention and transcribed his clues, which narrow the field down. A lot.

“The first quality we were looking for is that he had to be extremely complex and have a lot going on and what that does for me as an actor and for the studio, just gives us space that we can explore his complexities. The other quality is that the character we were looking for had to be well known but never brought to life. That does, again as an actor, is that it gives me a little bit of space and it just gives me a chance to put an imprint into his personality with the set of tools that I can bring to the table and put a very unique twist on his personality but still pay homage to who he is. The third thing and most important is that he had to be a badass motherfucker and on a Superman level of power where he could throw down.

“In those three qualities, I’m happy we’ve found that character and right now we’re out to a lot of writers.”

There aren’t many DC Comics characters “on a Superman level of power,” so where does that leave us? Lobo is a possibility, but although we’ve heard rumors of an intergalactic mercenary movie for years, is that really the kind of property Warner Bros. will want to rally behind? Sure, Guardians of the Galaxy could open the gates to all kinds of crazy comic book movies – if it’s successful, of course – but Warner Bros. couldn’t even commit to giving Superman his own franchise without throwing Batman into it right away. It strikes us as a long shot.

Which leaves many thinking that Dwayne Johnson could be referring to the John Stewart version of Green Lantern, or the magically powered Shazam! anti-hero Black Adam, whom Johnson was reportedly circling when John August was trying to get a Captain Marvel movie off the ground several years ago. Dwayne Johnson has already responded to this speculation via Twitter:

Black Adam it is then? Or is there another potentially A-list DC superhero with borderline godlike powers that we’re forgetting about?

William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.