Despite being played by such a lovable actor as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the first trailer for DC's DC's most powerful figures has only grown, leading Warner Bros. to officially give Johnson his own spin-off as the character back in 2017.
While details on the movie's plot have been relatively light, there are a few things that fans know of for certain. The movie won't feature Zachary Levi playing Shazam, and will instead use the Justice Society of America as an "antagonist" and a physical threat for the ruler of Khandaq. On top of this, based on the footage from the teaser trailer it can be assumed that the movie will be a retelling of the character's origins, as Adam was killed in Ancient Khandaq before being accidentally resurrected by an expedition team stumbling upon his tomb. Considering that in the comics, Adam wages a bloody war on the dictatorial rulers now governing modern Khandaq, it's also not much of a stretch to assume that the movie might follow him fighting the Justice Society of America and liberating his former kingdom.
For many DC fans, the teaser was exactly what they expected from such a beloved and complicated character. However, for the general audience, some people might be confused by the brutality displayed by a "superhero," which introduces a specific point of contention: is Black Adam a killer, and does that make him a supervillain?
In the almost 80 years since Adam was created, the character has gone through many different characterizations and origins, but the most popular came about in the pages of a 2002 ongoing series about the JSA (a team that will now be adapted in Stargirl). In it, Black Adam is revealed to be the former ruler of Ancient Khandaq, bestowed powers by the wizard Shazam and transformed into the character Mighty Adam. However, Khandaq is conquered by a superpowered villain named Ahk-ton, who also murders Adam's family, prompting him to seek revenge by any means necessary. The wizard Shazam, of course, disagrees, and strips Adam of his powers and buries him in a tomb underneath the kingdom, where he stays until he's accidentally resurrected hundreds of years later.
Because of his traumatic childhood and the tragic loss of his family, Adam is a character who believes in the ubiquity of absolute justice; to him, there is no gray area. Evildoers deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the word, and that outlook is precisely why Black Adam and Shazam come to blows so often. With that being said, Adam's killing might seem overtly villainous from the outside looking in, but much like a superpowered version of characters like Red Hood or The Punisher, his moral structure is too complex to be classified as a villain. He truly believes in justice, even ing the Justice Society of America at one point in the comics. Shortly after his violent liberation of Khandaq, Teth-Adam and Billy Batson even came to an understanding of sorts, with the Marvel Family serving as guests of honor at Adam's wedding to Isis.
Even though the DCEU is in a constant state of flux regarding what is or is not canon, most of the heroes in the DC Comic Universe have an absolute stance against killing. Teth-Adam frequently finds himself in conflict with them because he doesn't share that same viewpoint. The first trailer for Black Adam that dropped at DC FanDome 2021 makes it very clear the character isn't bound by the same moral logic, so it'll be incredibly interesting to see how he conflicts with some of the other characters when his movie hits theaters.
