This is Black Adam. At DC FanDome, Dwayne Johnson unveiled the first look at his DC anti-hero who will be headlining an upcoming eponymous standalone DC movie. Johnson’s Black Adam takes pretty much after what the character looks like in the comics. Johnson also revealed the premise of the Black Adam movie: it starts 5,000 years ago in Kahndaq where he’s enslaved, breaks free and is imprisoned. He wakes up 5,000 years later in present day and is determined to never let anything get in his way. Johnson also revealed whom Black Adam will be going up against — the Justice Society of America, featuring Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher.
Noah Centineo, star of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, is playing the superhero Atom Smasher on Black Adam, who has previously been a minor villain on The Flash season 2. The actors for the other Black Adam characters have not been cast as yet — or not revealed. Black Adam is making his live-action debut with the DC movie; he was originally going to be part of last year’s Shazam! but those plans were scuppered in favour of a Black Adam origin story. Black Adam is expected to square up against Shazam in a future DC film universe entry.
In the comics, Black Adam has never been a hero. He started off as a supervillain and remained so until the turn of the century, when he was slowly turned into a corrupted antihero. He’s an archenemy of Shazam in fact, and that’s why he has that lightning bolt on his chest, to depict him as the evil mirror. When the Black Adam release date was announced, Johnson’s comments also suggested a more positive outlook. And at DC FanDome, Johnson noted that Black Adam will be “a ruthless keeper of justice”, serving as “judge, jury, and executioner”.
It’s been a long road to screen for Black Adam. Johnson noted as much at DC FanDome that he’s been personally involved for a decade. The DC film is in the hands of director Jaume Collet-Serra who has previously worked with Johnson on Disney’s Jungle Cruise. Johnson will also serve as producer on Black Adam alongside Beau Flynn, Johnson, Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia, and Scott Sheldon. Garcia once said that Black Adam will have an “edge to him. Like, he’s not the boy scout superhero, he’s the guy that’s like, okay, you cross him? ‘Well, I rip your head off, and then I move on to the next guy.’”
Black Adam is slated to release December 22, 2021 in cinemas worldwide. Filming is expected to begin in early 2021.
