It’s been nearly five full years since Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was confirmed to be playing Black Adam in the DC Extended Universe, but following the success of Shazam!, it looks like the Black Adam movie is finally taking some significant steps forward. Johnson has frequently talked about why he’s excited to play the Kahndaqian anti-hero, and one of the reasons is because Black Adam and Superman have similar abilities. In Johnson's words:
Black Adam has the same powers as Superman. Think about that. That's why it's so cool and exciting.
With regard to super strength, durability and flight, Dwayne Johnson is correct that Superman and Black Adam are on roughly equal footing. However, contrary to what Johnson said during his conversation with MTV, Superman and Black Adam do not have all the same powers. In fact, if you look at what Black Adam is capable of overall, he’s actually arguably more powerful than Superman.
Like other Kryptonians, Superman’s powers come from Earth’s sun, granting him abilities like x-ray vision, heat vision and super breath. Black Adam, on the other hand, is magically enhanced, just like his arch-nemesis Shazam. And while Black Adam can’t shoot lasers out of his eyes or freeze things by blowing on them, because magic is one of Superman’s main weaknesses, that means that Black Adam has an big advantage when coming to blows with the Man of Steel.
These two have fought several times in the comics, and Superman had to deal with Black Adam Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam alone before Billy Batson was turned into Captain Marvel, his original heroic identity. But will Superman and Black Adam fight each other in the DCEU? Right now, nothing is in the books.
Three years back, Dwayne Johnson teased that Black Adam would eventually fight Superman, and last year, Henry Cavill said that there was “definitely some kind of work towards that.” However, right now there are no plans for Cavill to reprise Superman in the near future, if at all, so one shouldn’t get hopeful about him crossing paths with Black Adam in live action.
For now, Black Adam is set to lead his own movie, which Undateable’s Adam Sztykiel wrote and Jungle Cruise’s Jaume Collett-Serra is set to direct. According to Dwayne Johnson, production will begin sometime next year.
And then there’s the Shazam of it all. He and Black Adam have been at odds in the comics for decades, and while it seems likely that eventually they’ll clash in the DCEU, there’s no set time on when that will happen. Doctor Sivana was Billy Batson’s first foe in the franchise, and the end of Shazam! teased that Sivana will team up with Mr. Mind in Shazam! 2.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on what the DCEU has in store for Black Adam, but for now, you can learn what else this superhero franchise has coming down the pipeline in our handy guide.
