Dwayne Johnson Reveals Black Adam's New Release Date

The Rock has revealed to the world what he's been cooking — and boy, does it smell sweet. 

On Sunday, March 28, Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson took to Instagram to announce the new release date for Black Adam, Warner Bros. and DC Films' upcoming superhero movie in which he stars as the titular character. 

The actor posted a short video from Times Square in New York City, where every digital billboard in sight went black and then played the same video: a yellow lightning bolt flashing across the screen as Johnson's semi-distorted voice says, "The hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change." In silver text reads the film's title — with the lefthand slant of the "A" in "Adam" stylized as a bolt of lightning — and its release date: "7.29.22."

"A disruptive and unstoppable global force of a message from the man in black himself," Johnson wrote in the caption of the Instagram post. "BLACK ADAM is coming July 29, 2022."

Directed by The Shallows filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra, Black Adam centers around the eponymous villain-slash-anti-hero who's made a name for himself in the pages of DC Comics as Shazam's greatest enemy. Black Adam, otherwise known as Teth- or Theo-Adam, is first presented as the wizard Shazam's champion who ends up using his newfound powers — six unique strengths taken from ancient deities — for evil instead of good. When Shazam learns that Black Adam has murdered the Egyptian pharaoh in a bid to begin his takeover of the world, he sends him 5,000 light years away from Earth. Black Adam does eventually make it back, and there's hell to pay with the other champions Shazam has picked — namely Captain Marvel (these days known as Shazam). 

Black Adam will serve as a spin-off and a sequel to 2019's Shazam!, starring Zachary Levi as the quick-witted vigilante who's really a teenage boy named Billy Batson in non-superhero form. The film was initially slated to hit theaters this December, after Warner Bros. executives decided against introducing Black Adam in Shazam! so as to keep the characters separated until their cataclysmic meeting inevitably happens, but a little thing called the global COVID-19 pandemic complicated that plan. In April 2020, Johnson confirmed in a tweet that filming was delayed, and the hope at the time was to start shooting sometime in August or September of that year. However, that didn't pan out either, and it ultimately became clear that a December 22, 2021 launch date just wasn't feasible. In October 2020, Warner Bros. wound up removing Black Adam from its release schedule altogether, with no indication of when the studio would confirm a new debut date (via Variety).

Thankfully, time has been good to Black Adam, as the film is scheduled to start principal photography in April. Barring any additional bumps in the road, the Black Adam team should have little (if any) trouble finishing the film in time for next summer.

One last time, for good measure: Black Adam will hit theaters on July 29, 2022.