Even though Warner Bros. has recently been on a cancellation binge, scrapping projects like Batgirl and Scoob! : Holiday Haunt and the controversial removal of over 30 animated titles from HBO Max, they are still moving forward with their upcoming DC antihero film Black Adam, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the title character. A new trailer for the film was published today, and it featured Shazam’s archenemy using his powers to harm TK. Trailers for Black Adam have thus far only offered us glimpses of the film’s intense aerial battles, demonstrations of Black Adam’s extraordinary skills, and the character’s terrible grief over his son’s sad sacrifice. Our morally ambiguous anti-hero has had run-ins with Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate, and Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman has had a tense showdown with Black Adam.
In spite of waiting until the second Black Adam trailer to introduce Amanda Waller, DC managed to pull off a masterstroke. The second teaser for Black Adam has confirmed that Viola Davis’s formidable character from The Suicide Squad will be included in the next DC film. Amanda Waller appears to be in touch with the squad as they put together their plan to bring Black Adam to justice, at least according to the trailer. However, this isn’t any old squad we’re talking about. We may thank Black Adam for the Justice Society of America.
They’re the longest-running superhero team in comics. There is an outright name of the JSA, first proper introductions of Quintessa Swindle’s Cyclone and Noah Centineo’s Atom Smasher, and a touching scene with Sarah Shahi’s Adrianna. Have the JSA tried to negotiate Black Adam’s peaceful surrender? I suppose we should all go see it at once at the movies. This new trailer follows a notable shift in DC’s upcoming superhero film schedule, with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (directed by James Wan) being pushed back from its original March 17 release date to a much later Christmas Day release on December 25, 2023, and Shazam: Fury of the Gods (the sequel to 2019’s Shazam!) being pushed back from its original December 21, 2022 release date to take the Aquaman sequel’s old release date.
In the comics and several other media featuring Billy Batson, or Shazam, Black Adam is his main adversary. It’s no surprise that the popular character will receive his own feature entry in the DCEU after the first film in the franchise did so well at the box office and Johnson has wanted to portray the role for years. Writers Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani worked under the direction of Jaume-Collet Serra to create the film, Black Adam. Serra directed the 2021 Disney film Jungle Cruise, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, thus the two had already collaborated before. Starring with them in as-yet-undisclosed capacities are Marwan Kenzari, James Cusati-Moyer, Bodhi Sabongui, Mo Amer, and Uli Latukefu.
Johnson, who has been attempting to make this picture for years, will not only appear as the title character Black Adam, but will also serve as an executive producer on the film alongside Walter Hamada, Eric McLeod, and Scott Sheldon. On October 21, theatres will show the first episode of Black Adam.
Synopsis
Nearly five thousand years after he was granted godlike abilities by the Egyptians and promptly imprisoned, Black Adam (Johnson) has been resurrected from his tomb and is now ready to impose his own brand of justice on the modern world.