Black Adam star Aldis Hodge explains the cause behind Hawkman and Black Adam's conflict. Former-WWE superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is set to play the titular antihero in the upcoming DCEU feature directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Johnson was initially primed to appear as a villain in the Shazam! movie, but due to his star power, his character was spun off into a solo-feature, now set to release in October 2022 after several delays. Also anticipated is the cinematic debut of the Justice Society of America (JSA) in Black Adam, which sees Hodge, Noah Centineo, Quintessa Swindell, and Pierce Brosnan tackle the roles of the DC superheroes Hawkman, Atom Smasher, Cyclone, and Doctor Fate, respectively.
After the initial footage from the movie teased the antihero's backstory, in which he was unjustly incarcerated 5000 years ago in Kahndaq, a new Black Adam trailer was unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con 2022. The video showed Johnson's superhero in action, with his terrifying abilities on full display. Some scenes previewed his relationship with the JSA, particularly Hodge's Hawkman, who uses his Nth metal wings to fly and strikes Adam with his Thanagarian Mace. But the assault proves largely unsuccessful, as Adam destroys Hawkman with his thunderbolt, sending him crashing into a car.
Hodge has since offered some background on the conflict between Black Adam and Hawkman, explaining why the two are at odds. Speaking to Screen Rant at WB's SDCC 2022 press line, Hodge explains that Adam and Hawkman are two fierce warriors who are incredibly stubborn, and do things the way they want without considering other people. Both have the best intentions, yet their approaches are quite different, and disagreeing on a few things sets the two at odds. Read what Hodge says below:
They're friends; they just had a little spat. [Laughs] No, they're both savage beasts who are moving to the beat of their own drum. Best intentions in the world, they're just opposed on a couple of different things. They clash every now and then, and you get the best of these two feral animals just knocking it out. When it comes to the biggest battles that I have never seen the likes of, these guys are incredible. And what they go through is massive.
As Hodge additionally pointed out, the showdown between Black Adam and Hawkman is absolutely brutal, and this is something that fans have already glimpsed in the trailer. Earlier, while discussing Hawkman's DCEU future post-Black Adam, Hodge mentioned that Hawkman is kind of a virtuous counterpart to Black Adam. He wants the antihero to make the best use of his superpowers and make dignified decisions, but due to Adam's traumatic past, he is extremely vengeful and impulsive. He doesn't care about people's perception of superheroes - rather, he is unafraid to kill, not stopping at any length in his pursuit of revenge.
Since there is a clear difference in morality between Hawkman and Black Adam, frequent confrontations between the two aren't really unexpected. As the chairman of JSA, Hawkman seeks to establish justice and truth, but Adam is out for vengeance, which explains why the two superheroes' paths to achieve their goals are so different. There is no doubt that Hawkman poses strong competition for Adam, but from what has been shown in the trailer, Black Adam will ultimately have the upper hand in all the conflicts, making it hard for Hawkman and the JSA to contain his destruction. Whether Johnson's antihero ends up siding with the JSA will only become clear in the movie, but before any climactic realization, there will surely be a lot of power-packed action between the characters in Black Adam.
