The hierarchy of power in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to change! Nah, wait, wait! We are so not going down ‘that’ path again! But according to prominent scooper @MyTimeToShineH, Marvel Studios is interested in casting Dwayne Johnson as Apocalypse for its X-Men reboot movie.
Apocalypse, also known as En Sabah Nur, is a prominent supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, particularly within the X-Men franchise. The supervillain first appeared in X-Factor #5 (June 1986), but it was just a cameo. His full debut came in X-Factor #6 (July 1986). He was created by writer Louise Simonson and artist Jackson Guice.
Oscar Isaac played the character in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). While the movie was a decent commercial success, earning over $543 million globally, it received an overall mixed response from critics, with Isaac’s take on the character facing strong criticism.
Johnson will certainly carry the baggage of doing justice to Apocalypse if he ends up signing a contract with Marvel Studios in the future. But here’s the main question: Is Dwayne Johnson the right guy to don the character in the X-Men reboot movie?
Well, Johnson is undoubtedly a globally prominent actor. His track record in movies proves that his name alone is capable of bringing a large audience into theatres. Another reason for casting him should be his well-built physique. Johnson certainly has the size and presence to convincingly portray a powerful and physically imposing character like Apocalypse.
Casting Johnson against type could be an interesting and unexpected choice. It could offer a fresh take on the character and prevent him from simply being another muscle-bound action hero. Johnson himself has admitted that fans want to see him take on different roles, which may be why he joined Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, an upcoming A24 biopic on popular MMA fighter Mark Kerr.
However, there is a pretty noticeable section of the Marvel fan base that doesn’t want Johnson in the MCU, as they don’t want another Black Adam-like controversy in the superhero franchise.
DC and Warner Bros. certainly learned the lesson the hard way when they literally gifted Black Adam to Johnson on a silver platter. Yes, Black Adam is a badass character in DC Comics and the archenemy of Shazam. But nope, Johnson wanted a bigger fish (Henry Cavill’s Superman) because he thought their clash could change “the hierarchy of power” in the DCEU.
Black Adam is a complex anti-hero in the comics. The character has even hurt innocents and superheroes in several comic book storylines. But Johnson and his team ignored all the relevant and impactful lore surrounding the character and instead made Black Adam the heroic protector of Kahndaq—a conventional tactic that made the character bland and added nothing new or exciting to it.
Black Adam was portrayed in a much more positive light than he should have been in the 2022 movie. This scenario was bound to piss off the DC fanbase, and it did.
Will Dwayne Johnson really play a dark, menacing, and ruthless character like Apocalypse in the MCU? He has never played a bad guy before in his entire acting career. It would be interesting to see how he tackles this challenge. With that being said, we certainly don’t want him to hijack or try influencing the X-Men reboot production as well as he did with Black Adam.
Apart from leading the film from the front, Johnson also co-produced Black Adam, which pretty much proves that the movie was his baby project. But this will not (and should not) be the case with him in the X-Men reboot. Let’s see where this road goes! Stay tuned for more updates.
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