Dwayne Johnson has yet to make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, but maybe the actor could finally do so in a supervillain role. New fan art makes the case for The Rock to be cast as Apocalypse, the iconic X-Men villain.
The artwork was shared by @mikeposters on Instagram. It features Johnson transformed into Apocalypse along with the skull of Cyclops and the tagline, “Only the strong will survive.” The digital artist also explained why the Black Adam star would be perfect in the role of Apocalypse.
“Following the recent rumors and the X-Men ’97 finale, I decided to create my version of En Sabah Nur, aka Apocalypse,” the artist said. “I think he’s an incredible character who deserves to be brought back to the big screen. As a huge fan of Dwayne Johnson, I believe he would be perfect to portray this iconic villain. His commanding presence and natural charisma would be a perfect match for Apocalypse’s powerful aura. Just imagine The Rock as a supervillain, ready to conquer the world with his phenomenal powers! I would love to see that in theaters.”
Will The Rock Play Apocalypse in the MCU?
As noted, there have been rumors that Johnson was eyed to play Apocalypse, influencing the artwork. Officially, no announcements have been made about the character’s potential appearance in the MCU. It’s expected that the X-Men will be reimagined for the group’s arrival in the MCU at some point in the future, and that could come with bringing along Apocalypse as a villain. No new X-Men movies have been officially announced, though Apocalypse was teased to have a major presence for the next season in the Season 1 finale of X-Men ’97.
Johnson’s previous foray into the superhero movie genre didn’t turn out incredibly well. He starred in the big-budget movie Black Adam with big hopes of making sequels, joined by Henry Cavill’s version of Superman. Black Adam underperformed at the box office in 2022, and the DCEU was abandoned soon after with the hiring of James Gunn and Peter Safran at DC Studios. Also in 2022, Johnson starred in another DC-based film as the voice of Krypto in the animated movie DC League of Super-Pets.
There are other major upcoming projects starring Johnson. He returns as the voice of Maui in Moana 2, hitting theaters on Nov. 27, 2024.
