The members of the Justice Society of America play a huge role in Black Adam and have a variety of origins and powers. The superhero team, commonly referred to as JSA, first appeared in DC's All-Star Comics #3 in 1940 and featured the lineup of Doctor Fate, Hourman, The Spectre, Sandman, Atom, Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman. The new trailer for Black Adam features the members featured in the film, but the team would shift frequently throughout the many decades it would appear in the comics, rotating new and old members out regularly. The JSA actually predated the Justice League by two decades, standing as the first DC superhero team.
The JSA has had multiple live-action iterations as well, appearing in a variety of different DC-themed shows throughout the years. In animated form, the JSA has appeared in the Justice League series, Batman: The Brave & The Bold series, and the Young Justice series. The team has also been featured in the DC direct-to-video animated films Justice League: New Frontier and Justice Society: WWII. In live-action, the JSA has appeared in a number of different shows with differing (and similar) members, including CW's Smallville and Legends of Tomorrow, as well as the DC Universe series Stargirl. A consistent thread between all the early live-action appearances is that the JSA is a secret organization that's been around for a long time, emerging in the present day to help with a specific problem.
Black Adam's involvement with the JSA didn't happen until the late '90s in the pages of JSA where he fought against the superhero group before eventually joining their ranks and forming a close bond with Atom Smasher, who he treats as the brother he never had. Hawkman has close ties to Black Adam, as their Egyptian roots are tightly woven together with very similar paths leading back to ancient times. Doctor Fate is one of the founding members of the JSA and also has an origin that ties closely to Black Adam, particularly the historical and geographical aspects of their origin. Cyclone is a newer member of the JSA with an origin that has no real link to Black Adam in the comics. Below is an explanation of each of the JSA members in Black Adam, including their origin and powers.
Black Adam's Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) Explained: Origins & Powers
Doctor Fate is a magic-based DC character who derives his power from Nabu, a cosmic being affiliated with the Lords of Order, one of the original disembodied entities that created the universe. Nabu was assigned to Earth, where he eventually took a human form, becoming Nabu the Wise, serving as an advisor to Prince Khufu Kha-taar and ally to Teth-Adam for a time before his "death." In the early 1920s, Kent Nelson and his father uncovered Nabu's tomb, reviving the ancient mystical sorcerer, who accidentally killed Kent's father in the process. Nabu took pity on Kent and decided to teach him the skills of a sorcerer for two decades, giving him the iconic mystical Helm of Fate, Amulet of Anubis, and The Cloak of Destiny that help amplify Kent's powers as Doctor Fate. Later, Doctor Fate would become one of the founding members of the JSA.
Magic is the key element to Doctor Fate's powers and he is said to be the most powerful magical character in the DC Universe. He is a master spell caster with limitless magical abilities, such as flight, invisibility, teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy, teleportation, etc. On top of his abilities, Doctor Fate is also immortal, making him that much more powerful among his peers. His helmet, the Helm of Fate, gives Doctor Fate another advantage, taking away any emotions and making him immune to magic attacks, although without the helm he still retains most of his magical abilities. Doctor Fate is played by Pierce Brosnan, best known for his run as James Bond prior to Daniel Craig.
Black Adam's Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) Explained: Origins & Powers
DC's Hawkman has a complex and confusing origin that's been recreated over the years in various incarnations. His Golden Age origin is closely tied to both Black Adam and Doctor Fate, which could potentially be his origin in the Black Adam movie. In that version, Hawkman is the reincarnated spirit of Prince Khufu Kha-taar, taking the form of American archaeologist Carter Hall in the present day. Hall crafts his gravity belt, wings, helmet, boots, gauntlet, and armor out of Nth metal, which is derived from a crashed spacecraft belonging to an alien race called the Thanagarians. The crashing of the ship was prophesied by Nabu, the sorcerer who would later train Doctor Fate and imbue him with his magical powers, with Khufu and Teth-Adam (Black Adam's earliest incarnation) investigating and harvesting the ship. Khufu (reincarnated as Carter Hall) assumed the mantle of Hawkman, later joining other DC heroes to form the JSA. In another version of his origin, he is an alien policeman from the planet Thanagar named Kator Hall, who crash lands on Earth.
The Nth metal from the Thanagarian ship gave special abilities to those who used it, including the power of flight. Khufu had the metal melted down and created multiple weapons and tools, including a battle glove referred to as the Claw of Horus, a powerful artifact in the DC Universe. There are many elements to Hawkman's powers, the first of which is tied to his reincarnated spirit. As he is originally Prince Khufu, his spirit has been reincarnated multiple times, with each new body gaining the experience and expertise of the last, making him a formidable warrior with a multitude of weapons and skill sets. When he becomes Carter Hall, he forges the Hawkman armor, helmet, and belt, which give him the power of flight, as well as enhanced speed, vision, strength, etc. Hawkman is played by Aldis Hodge, best known for his work in Leverage and The Invisible Man.
Black Adam's Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) Explained: Origins & Powers
Black Adam's Atom Smasher, aka Albert Rothstein, is the godson of Al Pratt, the Golden Age Atom, and the grandson of Cyclotron, a reluctant hero who gained superhuman abilities after being experimented on by the villain Ultra-Humanite. Cyclotron died defeating the villain after being manipulated to fight The Atom, to whom he inadvertently bestowed his powers. Cyclotron's daughter Terri absorbed some of Cyclotron's radiation as well, which in turn transferred to her son, Albert, who would later begin his superhero career as Nuklon before transitioning to Atom Smasher, when he would eventually join the JSA and form a lasting bond and friendship with Black Adam.
Much like the other members of his bloodline, Atom Smasher has the ability to grow in size, with a record 60 feet in the comics, making him strong enough to take on a myriad of supervillains (and heroes). His super strength and ability to change his molecular structure make him a formidable member of the JSA, although he is still susceptible to overly powerful characters, such as Superman or Black Adam, who can take Atom Smasher out with a single punch. In addition to his superpower, Atom Smasher is also an accomplished pilot and mechanic, frequently in charge of piloting the JSA's jet, the Steel Eagle. Atom Smasher is played by Noah Centineo, best known for his work in Netflix's To All The Boys franchise.
Cyclone is the newest character of the JSA members in Black Adam, having made her first appearance in the pages of Justice Society of America #1 in 2006. The granddaughter of DC's original Red Tornado, Cyclone, aka Maxine Hunkel, grew up idolizing the members of the JSA. At a young age, she was kidnapped by the mad scientist T.O. Morrow (who created the second android Red Tornado) and injected with Red Tornado technology nanobytes, which wouldn't manifest until years later, showing that she had abilities to affect and create wind power. The talkative, vibrant Cyclone is invited to join the JSA when they open up their ranks to new heroes, becoming one of the newest (and youngest) members of the team.
Wind manipulation is the key power that Cyclone possesses, allowing her to create cyclones, whirlwinds, tornados, etc., while also being able to project wind power. She also has the ability to glide through currents of air, which can be seen as flight, but is slightly different. The Justice Society's Cyclone can deflect attacks with her wind power as well, summoning great bursts of air power to send attacks away from her. In addition, Cyclone can control naturally-occurring wind anomalies and weather patterns using her powers, which will surely come in handy in Black Adam. Cyclone is played by Quintessa Swindell, best known for their work in Trinkets and In Treatment.
