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Black Adamhas smashed his way into the mainstream consciousness with the 2022 debut of his self-titled film Black Adam. Starring beloved wrestler turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the titular character, a project that’s been in and out of development for over a decade has finally released andput the character into the mainstream.
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As one of the last films inDC’s current cinematic universe, withJames Gunn set to reboot the filmsinto a new interconnected continuity, some fans are left to ponder a question. Was Black Adam always like how he’s shown in the movie?
Black Adam Origins: Original & Current
Black Adam first appeared in Fawcett Comics' The Marvel Family in December of 1945. Fawcett Comics were the original creators of Black Adam, Shazam, and a variety of other comic heroes and villains before financial strains led to them beingbought out by DC Comics in the 1970s, with the characters being woven into DC continuity in the years following the acquisition. This original Adam was once a champion of the wizard Shazam, granted powers by the wizard to be a guardian of the earth, as the wizard had begun to grow old and weary. Realizing the vastness of his power,Adam felt he would make a finer ruler over Earththan the empires and dynasties that dotted the planet.
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Shazam overthrew the Pharaoh of Egypt and proclaimed himself as its new ruler, with the intention to spread his influence around the world and bring it all under his control. Shazam, outraged by this betrayal, declared Adam was a Black Adam, andbanished him from Earth to the farthest star in the physical universe.After 5,000 years of flying back to Earth, Black Adam was stunned to see the advancements of the human race during his absence and that Shazam had found new champions to carry on his legacy:The Marvel Family, consisting of Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr.After a handful of battles between the Marvel family and other heroes, the original Black Adam was last seen during the milestone DC event Crisis On Infinite Earths, battling a slew of heroes asexistence itself was being rewrittenfor a major in-universe reboot to their timeline.
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Following theuniverse-wide reboot, all of DC’s characters were given clean slates to begin anew in their continuity, with some staying nearly identical to their prior origins, while others were given revamps and alterations, Black Adam included. In thisrevised continuity, Teth-Adam wasthe son of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II, and he humbled himself into the good graces of his father, his advisors, and the Wizard Shazam with his selfless attitude and goodwill towards others. Viewing this boy as a candidate to become his champion, Shazam granted his powers onto the boy, who was eager to further his deeds to the Egyptian empire. Teth-Adam wasseduced into evil by Blaze, daughter of Shazam, and was led into overthrowing the Pharaoh to rule himself.
Outraged,Shazam ripped the powers away from Adam and sealed his body and the powersinto a necklace in the tomb of Ramesses II. Reborn by his descendent opening the tomb and finding the necklace in the modern age, Black Adam sought out to kill the new Shazam, having become the newest and final champion of the ancient wizard, as vengeance for being sealed away for centuries.Over the following years, Black Adam’s origins and allegiances would shift wildly, with his descendent’s humanity bringing about a sense of responsibility and decency into his soul, his origin again being changed to being a slave child that ended up with the powers of Shazam, fighting Darkseid, assisting the Justice Society of America and theJustice League, so on and so forth.
One repeating theme has emerged, however, and that is thatBlack Adam is no longer a wholesale villain.
He’ll occasionally align with villains and super villain organizations, but the furtherance of his own agenda and safeguarding the people of his former empire are most often his primary concern. When threats arise that put history, humanity, or the universe itself at risk, Black Adam will ally himself with the deities and heroes of the wider DC universe in combating these foes. This anti-villain status has more or lessbecome the standard for how Black Adam is depictedin comics, animation, and now, the world of live action.
Black Adam 2022
Dwayne Johnson’s portrayal of the character reflects this modern attitude in the 2022 Black Adam movie. Awakened in the modern age, Black Adam reveals he was not the initial champion that Shazam gifted these powers to, instead being his son, Hurut. Hurut gave the powers to his father to avoid assassination, only for himself to die to the assassins originally sent after his parents as vengeance for disrupting King Ahk-Ton’s rule. Enraged, Black Adam slaughtered the assassins and leveled the king’s palace, which the council of wizards saw as proof of his unworthiness to wield these powers they had gifted.
Further enraged,Adam killed the entire council except Shazam, who sealed him away for centuries until being awoken to help his people in the modern day, whoare again facing oppressionfrom would-be tyrants and homicidal militia men. After joining the Justice Society in saving the land of Kahndaq, Adam’s homeland, he accepts the role as the nation’s protector and accepts the Black Adam title as his identity, shortly thereafter being visited bySuperman, wishing to discuss recent events.
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Black Adam has seen shifts in tone, origin, and ideology over his decades of appearances in media. A nobody, an heir to the throne, a slave, turned villain, egotistical demagogue, turned anti-hero — nobody can say he’s been a stagnant presence in the DC universe. Ruler and tyrant, servant and guardian, Black Adam has seen and done it all. Regardless of what form he takes and what backstory he is handed in future comics, films, and cartoons,Black Adam will prevail as a powerful presencewherever he shows himself.
