And now we come to one of the more intriguing panels for this event, as we dive into Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam a movie that…honestly has a variety of reasons to be curious about it. While it’s not the DCEU’s first anti-hero movie by any stretch, this movie has more in common with Venom than Suicide Squad or Birds of Prey (well, probably not tonally, but otherwise). Here we have the origin story of an anti-hero/villain (depending on the iteration) that will not involve the hero the titular character is tied to and most frequently interacts with. Well, sort of origin story, Black Adam is complicated, origin story like Captain Marvel was from the sound of things, more about their first big encounter with heroes and characters on Earth after being in space for a long time.
Now of course, Black Adam isn’t coming out until December of 2021, and so much like The Flash it hasn’t begun filming, thus we don’t have any trailer or footage. We did, however, have a rather nifty and neat motion comic of sorts, narrated by Dwayne Johnson in character as Black Adam, explaining his origin and motives set to images of the character that correspond to the events of the narration.
Since there’s no footage to show, the focus of the panel was Dwayne Johnson answering fan questions about how much he loves Black Adam, how eager he is to play a character who’s not a clear hero or villain, and how he’s apparently been trying to get this movie made for a decade. We also had a brief interaction with Noah Centineo, who will be playing the young hero Atom Smasher in the movie.
As it turns out, Black Adam will introduce not just the titular character, but the Justice Society as well. Specifically we’ll be seeing Doctor Fate, Hawkman, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher, though only Atom Smasher’s casting was discussed in the panel. If there will be another villain or threat that forces Black Adam and the Justice Society to work together, or if the conflict will be just between them, was not discussed.
This will be an interesting film, not just because the premise is something the DCEU hasn’t tried before but also because it’s very unlike the other characters Dwayne Johnson has played in the recent past. Over the last few years he’s very much built up a kind, strong dad energy persona, and played roles that leaned into that, dashing and charming and kind. Playing a gruffer, rougher, unheroic character won’t be new for him, but it will likely be new to a lot of his younger fans who didn’t see his earlier roles. Still, his passion for the character and the role was evident in the panel, and that makes up for a lot.
Will this movie be any good? Impossible to tell since they haven’t even started filming it yet. But I have high hopes, and we’ll just have to wait and see.
Images courtesy of Warner Bros.
