Why you should watch Dwayne Johnson's new movie 'Black Adam'

Hollywood superstar Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's new DC movie 'Black Adam' will premiere in theatres across the globe on October 21, 2022, and if the film's latest trailer is anything to go, by fans should expect a very different, darker and action-packed treat.

Apart from the 'Brahma Bull' (a nod to the Rock's former wrestling days) getting his own movie, the DC extended universe's landscape will likely significantly change once the credits roll.

For starters, the outing will be Johnson's first as a DC Comics superhero or rather technically 'anti-hero' and he will butt heads with the Justice Society of America (JSA) for the first time on the Big Screen.

Black Adam is also not your typical superhero flick protagonist (MC) as underscored in the trailer in which he blatantly says that he can indiscriminately kill people.

While it isn't unusual for films and TV shows these days to have ethically ambiguous protagonists, this will be DC's first ever film to go down this route.

In anticipation of  Black Adam's release next week (whose full movie review we will also publish then), here are a few reasons why you should look forward to DC's 'Black Adam'.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as lead

Talks of Black Adam being adopted into a live-action feature film first hit social media in 2014 when The Rock confirmed the same in a Twitter post.

Nearly eight years after the announcement, the actor has continued to express his enthusiasm for being cast as Black Adam, who he refers to as a superhero despite the character historically being written as a villain.

In the comics, Black Adam is usually the main antagonist of the hero Shazam. In fact, Black Adam was supposed to make a cameo appearance in the 2019 'Shazam' film starring Zachary Levi but following the Rock's suggestion to scrap the plan, DC opted to give him a stand-alone film instead, much to the delight of fans.

With Johnson's success on the Big Screen, the actor likely had his choice of superheroes to portray after 2008's 'Iron Man' initiated the rise of comic book adaptations but he opted to champion Black Adam into existence.

The Rock has gone as far as saying that he was literally born to play Black Adam and so, as a betting man, I'd wager that he will put in one heck of a performance in order to bring the character to life, on the Big Screen, in all his brutal glory.

DC's success on the big screen has predominantly been because of mainstream superheroes such as Superman and Batman, just to name a few. Once every few years, DC has to reboot the two heroes' films in order to reel in new fans and continue their gains at the Box Office.

While some of these reboots have been successful, in general they tend to become quite redundant. Once people get used to seeing the same characters over and over again they tend to lose interest quickly.

But with this entry, DC now has the chance to use a character who remains mostly unknown to the larger movie audience.  

I'd personally wager that only DC and comic book fans in general have an inkling about Black Adam's origin story, full abilities and motivations.

Black Adam first appeared in DC Comics in 1945 but he only began enjoying commercial success in the 1990s despite making a number of appearances in DC publications within the four-decade period.

Born in the fictional country of Kahndaq 5,000 years ago, Jerry Ordway's 1994 comic 'The Power of Shazam' introduces us to Teth-Adam, one of the greatest warriors alive and the champion of the Pharaoh Rameses II.

Adam's successes on the battle field catch the eye of a powerful wizard who wants Teth to succeed him. The wizard proceeds to grant him unimaginable powers.

Just like the hero Shazam, every time Teth says ‘Shazam’ he gains powers similar to the wizard.  (In the comics, unlike Shazam, Teth is mostly portrayed as being 'stuck' in his Black Adam form. Should he utter the words "Shazam" in order to revert back to his powerless form he will wither away and die since he is 5,000 years old). 

His powers range from flight, super strength, speed and hearing, invulnerability and the power to command lightning just to name a few.

The main difference is that Shazam gets his powers from mostly Greek gods, while Teth was blessed with the power of six Egyptian gods namely; Shu, Horus, Ammon, Zehuti, Aten and Mehen.

After some time, however, the power soon corrupts Teth after he is influenced by a demonic entity known as Blaze.

This causes the wizard to imprison Teth. Once he awakens 5,000 years later, the hero-turned-villain runs amok in the present world, dishing out his own brand of deadly justice which isn't typical of most superheroes.

As mentioned before, the film's latest trailer showcases Black Adam exchanging blows with some members of the Justice Society of America (JSA) key among them Doctor Fate, Atom Smasher, Hawk Man and Cyclone.

In the comics, the JSA was the ensemble superhero team that preceded the Justice League.

None of its aforementioned members have ever made appearances on the Big Screen so this presents DC with the opportunity to warm them up to audiences and depending on the success of Black Adam this could lead to potential spin offs on the Big and Silver Screens. 

Doctor Fate (portrayed by former 007 star Pierce Brosnan), who is DC's equivalent of Dr. Strange, can become a very likeable character if DC plays its cards right.

This could also, in future, lead to a potential crossover between the JSA and the Justice League as the film is apparently set in Zack Snyder's 'Man of Steel' universe.

A number of superheroes on the Justice League roster are also rumoured to make appearances in the film and this would obviously make for great entertainment.