It’s finally happening. Black Adam is getting his own solo movie. He may not be the most famous comic book character around, but with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson set to play the mighty Kahndaqi, that’s all about to change. Black Adam has largely been defined as Shazam’s perennial nemesis, but it’s clear Geoff Johns and the DC Extended Universe intend to expand his reputation and reveal several Black Adam facts.
- Black Adam finally hit theaters in October 2022, and DCEU fans finally get a chance to see one of the most powerful and dangerous antihero yet. The movie takes several things from the comics, including his origins and relationship with the Justice Society of America. However, while the new movie features a seemingly accurate version of the character, there is so many Black Adam facts that will likely never see its way to the big screen. The good news is that there are decades of stories that will allow Black Adam fans to catch up on his impressive history in DC Comics.
Neither hero nor villain, Black Adam is firmly in the antihero camp. Though armed with god-like powers and devil-like rage, he is a servant of justice with a strict (albeit flexible) moral code. When given the choice between playing Shazam and Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson expressed his excitement for the latter, saying, “I just love [his] backstory, and I think that Black Adam has always been, for me, the most intriguing superhero.”
He’s An Ancient Egyptian Who Murdered the Pharaoh
Long before his acquisition by DC, Black Adam was created by Fawcett Comics writers Otto Binder and C.C. Beck. He first appeared as the Ancient Egyptian “Teth-Adam” in the 1945 issue of The Marvel Family #1, a good-hearted man handpicked by the wizard Shazam to become an all-powerful hero. Adam had to simply say the word, “Shazam,” and Black Adam was born, with a host of powers and an all-new black suit.
Unfortunately, Adam turned to the dark side. Corrupted by his potential, he killed the Egyptian pharaoh and took over the throne. Devastated, the wizard Shazam exiled him to the far reaches of the universe before finding a suitable replacement for his corrupted pupil. Enter Captain Marvel, the future Shazam himself. Black Adam finally returned to fight the Marvel family.
In The New 52, He Started Out As An Enslaved Person
Following his unfortunate demise against the Marvel Family, Black Adam disappeared until the 1970s. He didn’t make his full return until Geoff Johns and David Goyer got their hands on him in the New 52. In some newer Black Adam facts, Teth-Adam received a new origin story. Now an enslaved person in the oppressed country of Kahndaq, his entire family was murdered in cold blood other than his kind nephew, Aman. Adam saves his nephew from the Kahndaqi guards but was mortally wounded in the process.
As they fled their prison cells, Aman and Adam are suddenly teleported to the Rock of Eternity. This time, Aman received Shazam’s blessing and powers. He returned to Kahndaq planning to use his powers for peaceful means and rebuild his home country anew. Adam killed his nephew and stole the powers for himself, so he could obliterate the dictators and eliminate everyone who killed his family.
He Wields The Powers of the Egyptian Gods
Though Black Adam derives his powers from saying “Shazam,” the word invokes the powers of the six Egyptian gods: Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton, and Mehen. Fueled by the bellows of his voice, “Shazam!” is Black Adam’s war cry, and it makes him nearly unbeatable.
Shu imbues Black Adam with incredible endurance and the ability to survive nearly every kind of counterattack. Heru enables Black Adam to fly faster than two miles per second on Earth and at light speed in outer space. Amon helps make Black Adam one of the most powerful superheroes in the universe. Zehuti gives Black Adam a level of intelligence uncommon in the average superhero. Aton enables Adam to wield thunderbolts, travel across dimensions, and even change forms at will. Finally, Mehen gives Adam boundless courage and an inner reserve of strength to enable rapid healing in battle.
He Literally Started World War III
Not many superheroes can lay claim to starting a global conflict, but Black Adam is in an elite club. World War III started with a betrayal. His dear friend, the talking crocodile Sobek, was actually the assassin Famine, the Fourth Horsemen of Apokolips created specifically to destroy Black Adam. Sobek and the other horsemen obliterate Adam’s household and killed his dear wife, Isis. In her dying breath, she urged Adam to seek glorious revenge.
Black Adam took her words very seriously and slaughtered two million people in the nation of Bialya. This event started it all. All of Earth rallied together against the berserker Black Adam, who wrecked the globe and its many landmarks. He single-handedly battled and defeated China’s top superheroes, the Teen Titans, the Doom Patrol, and countless others.
He Traumatized Martian Manhunter
In World War III, #1, Martian Manhunter tried to slow Black Adam’s global rampage. When J’onn called him out, Black Adam all-but vaporizes him with a burst of lightning. Martian Manhunter lied broken and charred on the ground so that Adam could easily lift him up with one arm. Using his signature telepathy to garner control of Adam’s mind, Martian Manhunter was traumatized by what he saw.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Adam warned, knowing his mind is overcome by violence and rage. Unable to bear Black Adam’s physical strength nor his emotional state, Martian Manhunter fled the scene and headed for space with tears in his eyes.
He Can Go Toe-to-Toe With Superman
Black Adam has fought Superman on several occasions, and in each showdown, he has seemed almost totally unfazed. Not only has Adam shown he can take Superman’s punches, but he has been able to respond with haymakers that put the Man of Steel on the defensive. More impressive than Black Adam’s competitive combat style is his ability to evade. Though he could annihilate just about anyone, he fights Superman with a notable restraint, the kind Kal-El is often criticized for exhibiting in his fights.
Finally, Black Adam holds a key advantage of Superman. With his magical powers, Adam can devastate Superman in ways he’s not accustomed to dealing with. Magical spells have always been the Man of Steel’s leading vulnerability, and Black Adam can exploit it to the max.
Why Dwayne Johnson Picked Black Adam Over Shazam
Like many dictators, Black Adam facts shows he believes control is a form of freedom. When he kills his nephew Aman and steals his powers, he does so with a morally twisted objective: to seek vengeance on those who enslaved him and destroyed his family. The ends justify the means, and as the subsequent ruler of Kahndaq, he sits on a throne forged with blood. If Black Adam’s story stopped there, it would be hard to justify his character as anything other than villainous.
Fortunately, he shows a complexity that broadens him into exactly the kind of man Dwayne Johnson wants to portray. The Rock passed on Shazam and selected this antihero due to his complicated history, his background as an enslaved person, and his future as a conflicted demigod. As Johnson said, “I think we have to respect and pay homage to the true mythology and then the heroic side will come down the line.”
He Has Been Mute Twice
Without his voice, Black Adam has major problems. It’s the primary mechanism for accessing his powers, and without it, he’s simply Teth-Adam in human form. Though it hasn’t happened often in the comics, there have been a few occasions where silencing Black Adam proved to be the best way to beat him. In a fight against Shazam, for instance, Black Adam got humbled to his human state and had his vocal cords severed, keeping him from powering up anytime soon.
In an even harsher instance, Adam battled Ultraman and got beaten to within an inch of his life. Impervious to Black Adam’s magical powers, Ultraman reached down to grab Adam’s mandible, saying, “No more words from you.” Silencing Adam’s last-ditch effort to say “Shazam!,” the evil Superman doppelgänger from Earth 3 then crushed his jaw and left Black Adam broken and silent.
He Joined the Sinestro Corps
Over the years, Black Adam and Sinestro have made quite the dynamic duo. They’ve taken down the Crime Syndicate together, Sinestro has helped Black Adam rebuild his shattered jaw, and they’ve even thrown massive bashes at Kahndaq to celebrate their victories. Though they were buddies long before Black Adam joined the team, Sinestro recruited his friend to join the fight against The Paling, making him an honorary member of the Sinestro Corps.
Though the prospect of a Yellow Lantern Ring-bearing Black Adam is truly frightening, that’s exactly why Sinestro tapped him for the fight. Knowing the strengths of The Paling, he empowered Black Adam due to his “ability to instill great fear” in his enemies. Thanks to their partnership, Sinestro, Black Adam, and the rest of the Corps soundly defeated the Paling, and to this day, Adam has kept his ring.
He Moved the Moon to Beat Ultraman
In the New 52, Ultraman proved practically impossible to beat, having already broken Black Adam’s jaw and decimated scores of other superheroes. In their second matchup, Ultraman caused an eclipse by temporarily moving the moon to shield the sun. While occupied with his takedown of Alexander Luthor, Ultraman ended up beaten by his own plan, when Black Adam and Sinestro reversed the planetary shift, teaming up to move the moon back to its original place.
This exposed Ultraman to the harmful rays of the sun and paved the way to his eventual defeat. Having disabled the Crime Syndicate, Black Adam and Sinestro became heroes. Though they are offered to have their criminal records expunged, neither of them had any interest in the gesture and they both fled the scene.
He’ll Do Anything For His Longtime Love, Isis
When Black Adam is powered up and ready to fight, he knows no limits. In Black Adam: The Dark Age, the inner strength of Adam’s character is on full display. Though he lacked the powers of the gods, he was filled with an ever stronger spirit: the will to resurrect his dead wife, Isis. Adam embarked on an odyssey to rebuild his wife’s mystical amulet, the key to bringing her back to life.
While on his journey, he demonstrated a fortitude of will that would make Bruce Wayne blush. While trekking through the Himalayas, Adam was attacked by a yeti on the edge of a cliff. Stabbing it in the gut, Adam ripped open the Yeti’s intestines and used them to rappel down the mountainside. Later, he grew so hungry in the frozen tundra that he killed and ate one of the men in his dwindling caravan.
Former Member of the JSA, Injustice Society & Suicide Squad
With a resume as complicated as his character, Black Adam has been a member on a host of superhero and supervillain teams. JSA #21 saw Black Adam humble and eager, requesting to join the Justice Society of America. Though he became a member, everyone in the JSA remained cautious of his presence, and Adam himself always had one foot out the door. Around this same time, Adam also joined Johnny Sorrow’s Injustice Society, and showed off his powers by killing a few enemies in increasingly creative ways.
That didn’t last too long, as Adam flipped the tables on Sorrow and partnered up with the JSA to bring down the Injustice Society. Having also fought alongside the Suicide Squad, Black Adam won over the affection of none other than Amanda Waller herself. In Suicide Squad #58, the dangerous head of Task Force X assisted Adam in his raid of a dangerous island. Black Adam facts prove he isn’t the most loyal of team members, there are plenty of possibilities for his future in the DCEU.
He Led A Hostile Takeover of Kahndaq, His Home
The definitive source for Black Adam’s history comes in Geoff Johns’ JSA: Black Reign. After committing a number of atrocities, Adam recognizes his volatility and does his best to change. He made peace with a great many superheroes, including Shazam (still known as Captain Marvel back in 2005). While things were looking up, Adam’s penchant for retribution swelled yet again, and he convinced some of the more gullible members of the JSA to join him in a hostile takeover of his homeland, Kahndaq.
Thanks to the help of his newfound disciples, Black Adam succeeded in liberating the people and resetting the clock. When the rest of the Justice Society of America intervened, however, they saw the truth of what had happened. In addition to executing the Kahndaqi dictator and taking over the throne, Black Adam and his JSA acolytes slaughtered the entire military in one fell swoop. As it turned out, Adam intended Kahndaq to be the first of many countries that he would invade and subvert, but thankfully, the JSA convinced him to stay local and not take over the world.
He Killed Psycho Pirate
Psycho-Pirate made the mistake of teaming up with Alex Luthor in his bid to build an Edenic Earth. After harassing Power Girl and several other superheroes, Pyscho-Pirate attacked Black Adam and forced him to accidentally say “Shazam,” thus powering Luthor’s world-destroying machine. Though he was trapped by Psycho-Pirate, Nightwing and Superboy quickly freed Black Adam before stopping Alex Luthor from decimating the galaxy.
Enjoying his newfound freedom, Adam only had one thing on his mind. With arms crossed, he calmly walked over to Psycho-Pirate, called out his name, then plunged his fingers into his eye sockets. To complete the mission, Adam pushed the villain’s Medusa Mask and jammed it straight through his head, exploding it in an instant. “No more silly faces,” Adam says, before his comrades ask, “was that necessary, Adam?” The righteous grimace on his face says it all: “Absolutely.”
His Slogan: “Kneel At His Feet or Get Crushed By His Boot"
It’s the phrase The Rock used to confirm his involvement in Black Adam, and it’s the perfect slogan for an antihero of his magnitude. Like a Jekyll and Hyde sort of hero, Black Adam has the capacity for kindness, but usually only when all other options have been exhausted. Who can blame him? Having lived a life of bondage that saw his family destroyed, and his soul corrupted, Adam must reconcile his otherworldly powers with his distinctly human heart.
He’s a man of contradictions: one who loves his homeland and the people within it, yet he’ll kill anything and everything that threatens the Kahndaqi way of life. He’s a proponent of law and order, but when someone wrongs him, he eliminates them without hesitation. As the Black Adam movie arrives, it will be fascinating to watch how the antihero fits into the tapestry of the DCEU, and what Black Adam facts the film contains.
