The Nerdz Lounge.

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Dwayne Johnson to black Black Adam in DC's Shazam

http://www.totalfilm.com/news/dwayne-johnson-confirms-he-will-play-black-adam-in-DCs-shazam

After weeks and months of speculation, Dwayne Johnson has officially confirmed that he will be playing the part of Black Adam in DC's forthcoming Shazam adaptation.

The star took to his Twitter feed to break the news, posting the quote, "kneel at his feet or get crushed by his boot", before continuing, "my honour to become… #BlackAdam".

It had been reported that Johnson was either going to play the hero, Captain Marvel, or his nemesis Black Adam, the latter having been the favourite given that Johnson had previously described him as his favourite comic-book character.

Black Adam is a powerful sorcerer with designs on controlling the universe, and is the primary antagonist of Captain Marvel, the superhero alter-ego of young Billy Batson.

However, whether or not he is entirely villainous in this incarnation remains to be seen, with Johnson also including the hashtag "#TheAntiHero" at the end of his tweet…

The film has yet to receive an official release date, but with Johnson's role now confirmed, expect that to change in the coming weeks...

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Batman vs. Captain America

For Batman, this will be a "rematch," mainly due to the disgruntled Bat-fans who were too sour to see the dark knight get killed at the hands of Spider-Man. Because of that, ScrewAttack! and the DEATH BATTLE people will allow dead combatants to return and fight whomever they wish. So, this sort of destroyed any means to make the series worthwhile.

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CLICK HERE FOR THE BATMAN VS. CAPTAIN AMERICA FIGHT!​

 

I wasn't sure about that fight. So I am neutral. I knew that it would be a close battle between Batman and Captain America. And it was presented well as always and it was correct.

 

Cool fight.

 

It was an okay fight. I just think they just made this so they can appease the crowd of Batman fans who thought they were "wronged" by the loss to Spider-Man.

 

I don't know. Given the years that Batman and Captain America had come out and the changes that they underwent through the decades, I still think that the assessment was correct, except that the fact of Captain America's strength(he lifted an A-1 Abrams tank to clobber The Incredible Hulk). Since that Batman came out in 1939, Americans back then never heard of Ninjutsu and ninjas but comic book fans understood, courage and intelligence. Bob Kane wrote Batman that way. If one is to be a tough, dark avenger of the night, one has to be smart. When Joe Simon and another writer(I forgot his name)created Captain America, Steve Rogers, was and still is, an enhanced human before Robert Ludlum's super assassin Jason Bourne. He is a super soldier created to fight threats to America and the world. Steve Rogers never waivered from his sensibilities and the same can be said of Bruce Wayne. But Bruce Wayne never stopped learning more skill sets and survival skills.

 

Overhead view of the new take of the Batmobile for the upcoming Batman/Superman movie.

 

I am just ready to be disappointed.
DC does comics better than Marvel
DC does animation better than Marvel but when it comes to movies... They both suck but Marvel still wins. They plan things out.

 

I had once seen in The History Channel program(narrated by actor Keith David) about comic books and it showed the differences between DC and Marvel. DC had interesting characters and Marvel had interesting storylines and plots, which most comic book readers liked in the late 60's through to the 70's. Marvel had a cover of The Fantastic Four that was the most iconic of all(I think) dealing with Sue Richards' powers increasing to dangerous levels. The title was called Suffer A Witch To Live.
DC had The Death Of Superman and The Dark Knight series including The Long Halloween and The Killing Joke. I was not a big X-Men fan, or any of the mutant books series. I had met friends who followed the X-Men and he told me everything about each member. A friend of mine introduced me to Alpha Flight, the Canadian Mutant counterpart to the X-Men. It was after the first X-Men film, that I had developed a lot of respect for them and their message about being different and acceptance.

I guess it all comes down to what the reader wants. I think DC does a better job in the animation department than Marvel does(although, I do enjoy the animated version of The Ultimate Avengers 1-2). But the live-action films are doing better than DC's films which rely on Superman and Batman to carry the brand through.

For DC to improve in the film front, better writers and directors are needed. These are two people who must understand the genre; not so much as to cave into the demands of fans, but attention to detail as well as creative approaches in terms of understanding the character portrayal and the right actor to play the part.

 

The problem with the DC movies is two fold:

First, there is no singular, unifying vision of what their live action offerings should be and where they should go. It's just a bunch of different projects being made by people who really don't "get" what makes a comic book based film work. Sometimes they get lucky and hit it out of the park (Nolan's Batman films). But, more often than not, they end up producing what amounts to a tour de force of mediocrity (Green Lantern, Man of Steel).

Secondly, thier films seem to be corporately driven. That is to say the suits are deciding what goes into the film as opposed to the artistic talent. With Marvel, you basically have the same people overseeing the movies who have over seen the comics. They know what works for their characters and what doesn't. With DC one gets the sense of a bunch of lawyers, who don't know the difference between Hawkman and Owlman, calling the shots on what ultimately ends up on the big screen.

As long as that corperate mentality remains, DC will continue being hit or miss movie wise. Hell, I predict when the bubble bursts on this whole super hero movie craze that we see now, it will be because DC will have flooded the market with tired and cliched superhero flicks.

 

I forgot about the corporate culture at DC. That explains why DC/Warner Brothers had always stood by the trinity(Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) to drive the DC product and not so much the characters that fans have known and loved for decades. I recall meeting and talking to the inker of the Green Lantern comic books and we talked about GL making it to the big screen because I felt it was time GL had a chance with the available technology. He agreed but he also pointed out about DC and Warner Brothers and why the two seemed to be overly cautious when introducing a new superhero film. So far, DC did okay with The Flash in 91-92(I was very pissed when the show was cancelled just when the writing was getting better), Smallville(a show I thought was going to be like all the other teen drama shows on the CW) and they are hoping Gotham will do it(I think it is more like the graphic novel series Gotham Central). But it is more like the story of Jim Gordon, than Bruce Wayne and others who would impact Gotham City in the future. It is hard to say how Gotham will turn out. But, if corporate mindsets are involved instead of passionate artisans, then the comic book fans will be cheated.

 

So well said but the really interesting thing is that the comic straight to dvd cartoons are far better with DC. The Batman Superman teamups as well as the Wonderwoman movies were absolutely awesome. Then you have Marvel which misses damn near every time with the exceptions of the of first two Avenger Cartoon movies. I don't know if their writing staff is burned out but they can't seem to make a good cartoon movie.
DC has also done a great job with tv shows like Smallville and Arrow. Marvel has done ok with SHIELD but that isn't really a superhero show.

 

Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not a superhero show, but it is a secret agent show like The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. When The Amazing Spider-Man came on television on CBS back in 1977, it was on for a couple of seasons. Then came The Incredible Hulk, which was on for a couple of years. Captain America was hoped to be a series, but it became a couple of made-for-television movies until the 1991 depiction(a bit scattershot). The Incredible Hulk movies filled some spaces before the first X-Men film. During that time, Marvel had done okay. It was DC that was doing better at the time with film and animation. But, Marvel sold more comic books(by bringing back memorable characters like She-Hulk, Morbius, The Living Vampire, and Blade).

 

Actor Nicholas Hammond, the first actor to play Spider-Man, is now living in Australia and working as an attorney. I do recall a Marvel comic called Werewolf By Night. I don't think the series lasted very long. And in a Spider-Man comic, J. Jonah Jameson's son was afflicted with lycanthropy and he transformed into a werewolf.

 

I think the whole lycanthropy thing only applied during the 50's & 60's after the whole Wertham witch hunts painted comics as a corrupting force for young minds similar to how rap music & video games are painted today. Remember William Gaines had the whole graphic horror comics line over at EC comics from the 40's up until the mid 50's when the whole comic censorship push went into effect. Werewolf by Night and many of the other horror themed characters like both Dracula & Frankenstein's Monster showed up at Marvel & at DC as well with Swamp Thing and their horror themed characters in the 70's and were watered down in tone compared to what they could have been, especially the early EC horror comics.

 

In the late 70's, there were really graphic horror comics(I forgot the titles)under Warren Publishing the company behind the iconic Famous Monsters Of Film Land magazine under Forrest J. Ackerman. Warren Publishing may have revived the EC comics line of Tales From The Crypt, Vault Of Horror, Creepy and others back in the early and mid 70's. These comics were very graphic and included female nudity. Swamp Thing and Man-Thing was, in my opinion, the comic world's first "mud fight." Both Swamp Thing and Man-Thing were living creatures of the swamp. Both of these creatures were once human. Both humans were scientists conducting experiments in the swamp. Man-Thing's scientist was said to have had a component to the super soldier formula that would give a person to grow back and restore any part of their body. The scientist was on his way to deliver his part of the formula until he was attacked by Nazi spies on the road and his car caught fire and rolled into the swamp. The formula covered the scientist as well as the mud and vegetation of the swamp and he was considered dead only to become the Man-Thing roaming the swamps forever. When Swamp Thing came out(Marvel literally screamed that they would release Man-Thing after the cult success of Swamp Thing), it was more of a parody(add a good score by composer Harry Manfredini which had elements from the Friday The 13th films) and the Return of Swamp Thing, which spawned a tv series and an animated series. Man-Thing was made into a movie but only for television and it made no sense, in my opinion.

 

It was all original content by Warren Publishing. Creepy, Eerie & Vampirella were the comics, but they were promoted & sold as "illustrated magazines" rather than as standard comics which is why they were able to get away with the graphic horror & nudity. Marvel also did something along the same lines with their B&W Conan magazines in the 70's & early 80's allowing them to show more graphic content in line with the Conan stories than they could in the regular comics series that they had license to. This all made it possible for other "illustrated magazines" with graphic content to be published like Warren's anthology series 1984 & of course Heavy Metal and Marvel's own entry Epic Illustrated all labeled & marketed as Adult Fantasy Magazines.

 

I recall the Conan magazines. They were pretty graphic in their own right, but not sexual. I recall Vampirella, but I never read any of the books because Vampirella was not sold where I lived at the time. If the stores did sell Vampirella, I just wasn't into vampires back then. Actress and one of the most beautiful women in the world, Talisa Soto(married to Benjamin Bratt) played Vampirella in a movie in the 90's battling Roger Daltry. I have read Heavy Metal but I had no idea what it was about. I just enjoyed the artwork. That was when reading a comic book was a singular and pleasurable experience you could enjoy almost anywhere.