Why We Haven't Seen Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson In The MCU Yet

Marvel's age-old rival is DC Comics, the home of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. After seeing Marvel's success at the box office with an interconnected franchise of superhero movies, DC decided to launch their own cinematic universe with the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) in 2013. The following year, it was announced that Dwayne Johnson would be joining the DCEU, portraying the villainous Black Adam in a Shazam movie. Many were surprised that the Rock was playing a bad guy rather than a superhero, with the assumption being that the larger-than-life star would prefer to be the star of his own DCEU film. Those predictions ultimately proved correct. 

If you've seen Shazam!, which was released in April 2019, then you know Johnson isn't in it. That's because, after meeting with DC brass in 2017 to discuss his role, it was announced that Black Adam was getting his own solo movie. The film has no release date yet, but it's still very much in the works, and it's expected to start filming in 2020. 

The fact that Johnson will be headlining a DCEU movie greatly reduces his chances of doing the same for Marvel. That's because, while not completely unheard of, it's extremely rare for actors to star in films for both franchises. And when they do, it's generally as side characters moving from one franchise to another (e.g. Zachary Levi playing one of the Warriors Three in two Thor films before moving to the DCEU to play Shazam). We've yet to see a lead actor switch teams, but here's hoping Johnson might be the first.