We just found out that Dwayne Johnson will play Black Adam in ‘Shazam‘ and now have been given hints at the tone of the movie as well as who would write it! Yes the screenwriter has been chosen and Darren Lemke (‘Jack the Giant Slayer‘,’Goosebumps‘) will be handling the script for the film. We’ve also just learned that it won’t be Warner Brothers but its subsidiary, New Line, that will be producing the film.

With the change in who will be producing, it makes me wonder if they will be fitting this movie into the greater cinematic universe that ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ is creating or if ‘Shazam’ will end up being a stand alone title. Well, New Line president Toby Emmerich actually shared a little bit about the film and what direction it would be heading in.

“It feels to me like Shazam will have a tone unto itself. It’s a DC comic, but it’s not a Justice League character, and it’s not a Marvel comic. The tone and the feeling of the movie will be different from the other range of comic book movies.”

That sure sounds like we may be having a separate set of characters from the DC universe floating around. While they are the same studio it won’t prevent them from any mixing and matching down the line, you have to wonder if they’ll be having the same feeling and continuity of what will already be established.

Of course, what does that mean for the tone of the movie? Emmerich says that it “will have a sense of fun and a sense of humor. But the stakes have to be real.”

It sounds like they want to go a little more fun along the lines of a Marvel movie and a different take on the universe than what we’ve seem from ‘Man of Steel.’ Of course it isn’t all fun and games as he talks about Johnson’s role in the movie:

“Black Adam is a complex character. The villain in superhero movies is often, I think, what makes the movie. And I thought Dwayne’s take on the character, and the way that he saw Black Adam, was really compelling and fun.”

Are you looking forward to seeing Shazam and Black Adam duke it out on the big screen? Do you think that they may be keeping these characters separate from the newly emerging ‘Justice League’ themed characters? Share your thoughts below!

Source: Entertainment Weekly