Black Adam star Aldis Hodge has revealed what worried him most about his fight scenes with The Rock. The star, who acts under his given name Dwayne Johnson, holds the leading role in Black Adam, which is the latest theatrical film from the DC Universe. Black Adam, also known as Teth-Adam, is a slave from ancient Kahndaq who is given the powers of Shazam before being imprisoned for 5,000 years. When he is released in the modern day, he must wrestle with himself over whether he is truly a hero while attempting to save the life of Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi), the woman who released him, as well as that of her son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui).
The Justice Society of America, as portrayed in the film, consists of four heroes who work with A.R.G.U.S. director Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) including veteran heroes Hawkman, who uses a metal suit to fly and carries a medieval mace, and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), who can see the future via an alien helmet. The team also features newcomers Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), who can control wind, and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), who has the ability to greatly increase his body mass. Hawkman is their leader, and is fiercely loyal to his team as well as his longtime friend Doctor Fate, doing everything in his power to either coerce or convince Black Adam to stand down.
This week, THR sat down with Hodge to discuss his role in Black Adam. In reflecting on the DCU movie's production, the Hawkman actor recalled that his biggest fear while filming was accidentally scratching The Rock's face with his mace during one of their fight scenes. He prides himself on making it through every single one of his scenes without an incident, because he dreaded "if I scratched his face, and we had to shut it down because of me." Read Hodge's full quote below:
My lasting memory is that I never hit him. That was all I cared about. I’m actually serious. Swinging around that mace, man … I grew up a fighter, and in terms of real fighting and stunt fighting, it’s all about understanding and knowing your distance. With real fighting, you need to know your distance and your opponent’s distance exactly, so that you know when to lock in, clock them and get out.
With stunt fighting, you need to know your distance so that you never touch the other person, but the mace required the full extension of my arm. So I had to deal with understanding a different length because the mace added a couple extra feet. And man, all I wanted to do was make it through the day without scratching that man’s face. Because if I scratched his face, and we had to shut it down because of me? Yeah, that’s no bueno. But aside from that, the back problems are probably [the other lasting memory].
Does the Justice Society Have a Future in the DCU?
Although the DCU's Justice Society was smoothly folded into the overarching narrative of the franchise, Black Adam was their official onscreen debut. Now that the antihero is gearing up to fight Superman in what promises to be multiple films, as teased by Johnson, many fans have wondered whether or not this new crop of heroes has a place in the series. Although one of their number was lost over the course of the movie, most of the heroes - including Hawkman - still have the opportunity to show up in future projects.
So far, there are no official plans for a Justice Society project after Black Adam. However, given the film's financial success at the box office, hitting $100 million faster than any DCU movie since Aquaman, it seems like a sure thing that the studio will find a way to use them as soon as possible. What seems the most likely projects for them at the time of writing would either be a Hawkman origin story film that Hodge has previously teased, or possibly an HBO Max streaming spinoff series in the style of Peacemaker.
Source: THR
