Dwayne Johnson explains why Black Adam's slavery origin is so important for the DC Comics character and his status as an antihero in the film. Johnson has been attached to star as the character for nearly 15 years, originally being eyed for the role of Captain Marvel/Shazam before later finding interest in taking on the antagonist role of Black Adam. Following years of attempting to get the project off the ground, Warner Bros. and DC Films would elect to split the characters into their own films as planning on the DC Extended Universe got underway, though the search for a writer and director would see progress hit numerous speed bumps.
Black Adam is finally getting off the ground with Jaume Collet-Serra at the helm, having impressed Johnson with his work on Disney's Jungle Cruise, with a script from Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. Alongside Johnson, the cast for the DCEU film will include Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Sarah Shahi as freedom fighter Adrianna Tomaz, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone and Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate. Black Adam would enter production in April 2021 following multiple delays from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and is now gearing up to hit theaters this summer.
With a few months to go until the film's arrival, Dwayne Johnson caught up with Men's Journal to discuss the long-awaited Black Adam. In exploring the character's nuanced nature, Johnson explained why Black Adam's slavery origin is so important for his establishment in the film and his place as an antihero. See what Johnson said below:
"Superheroes live by a code of ethics and a line of integrity. But with Black Adam, depending on how you look at him, he has the ability to be a hero, an antihero, and a villain. One of the things that drew me to Black Adam is his origin. He started out enslaved. Any time you have a character, or any human being, who has wrongfully been held down by others, it means so much more when they begin to rise up. Black Adam rises with a big f---ing chip on his shoulder—and an edge."
With Johnson's confirmation that Black Adam will see the character have a slavery origin story, the film seems to be borrowing primary inspiration from the DC Comics line The New 52. The 2011 rebooted universe saw Teth-Adam as the uncle to a slave named Aman in Kahndaq who rescued his nephew, only to be mortally wounded by guards and saved by Adam when they were greeted by the wizard Shazam and Aman shared his powers with Adam to heal him. However, upon returning to Kahndaq, Adam used his powers to exact revenge for the death of his family and subsequently killed Aman to seize his powers for himself.
Should the film be properly utilizing the New 52 origin story for the character, it would work towards establishing the tricky balance of Black Adam's existence as a hero, villain and antihero in the DCEU. As Johnson explains, his darker nature doesn't stem from a place of greed or malice, but rather a dark past of being held down and a desire to ensure this doesn't extend to others. Only time will tell how the film develops his character when Black Adam hits theaters on July 29.
Source: Men's Journal
