Big news in the world of superhero casting, as THR reports that Pierce Brosnan has joined Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam movie, where he’ll play DC superhero sorcerer Doctor Fate, who is not Doctor Strange. This will be Brosnan’s first indulgence in the world of super-powered cinematic throwdowns, taking on the role of Kent Nelson, an American archeologist (played, obviously, by a British man), who stumbles onto vast magical powers while exploring a foreign country, and yet is not, against all odds, Doctor Strange.
Brosnan is just the latest major name to sign on for the long-gestating Black Adam movie, joining a cast of characters fleshing out a nascent version of DC Comics’ Justice Society, who comics fans will probably get very angry at us for describing as “a sort of second-string Justice League made up of old people and their super-powered kids,” but, hey, there it is. Other cast members on the film (who are also, as far as we can tell, not playing Marvel Comics character Doctor Stephen Strange) include Noah Centineo (Atom Smasher), Aldis Hodge (Hawkman), and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone.
Despite our joking, Doctor Stra Fate predates his nearest non-union Marvel equivalent by a full generation, having debuted in 1940 under the pens of writer Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman. An archeologist who stumbles upon the tomb of the ancient wizard Nabu, Fate fights crime while wearing his magical helmet (which sometimes lets Nabu possess him, awkward). Also, when DC and Marvel did their big “Let’s glue all our character together so we can have a Batman who is also Wolverine” Amalgam event back in the mid-’90s, Kent and Stephen Strange did merge together into a character called Doctor Strangefate, so, hey: It’s not just us.
Black Adam is currently slated for a December 22, 2021 release date.