The following contains spoilers for Black Adam, now showing in theaters.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Black Adam crafts a very tragic story for Dwayne Johnson's Teth-Adam, informing why he becomes such a violent liberator. No matter what, he's a man of the people, which stems from his origin centuries before when the evil King Ahk-Ton ruled over the land. As a result, no matter how audiences disapprove of Adam's aggressive actions, he has a proper reason behind them.
He truly becomes a freedom fighter, making sure the modern era won't have citizens suffering like in the past. In the process, Black Adam ends up riffing off of 2000's Gladiator, but there's a small twist to the story that actually tweaks Adam's fate in the wake of oppression in Kahndaq.
Gladiator Ended Maximus' Rise in the Light
In Ridley Scott's Gladiator, Russell Crowe's Maximus was a high-ranking soldier who ended up in the gladiator pit after Commodus took over the Roman Empire. It was basically a coup, but Maximus stayed off the grid, fighting and helping protect the likes of Juba. This bondage made him stronger, and in the process, he became a symbol once the truth emerged.
At the heart of his story, though, was revenge because Commodus had Maximus' wife and son killed. It led to Maximus becoming the people's champion, and eventually, he got to kill Commodus in the Coliseum. He died in the process but begged for reform and political change, ensuring his legacy meant something. The icing on the cake was his reuniting with his family in the afterlife to end the movie.
Black Adam Subverts Teth-Adam's Happy Ending
Teth-Adam follows a similar path in Black Adam, with the shocking revelation emerging of how he lost his wife and son to the king, too. Thankfully, he received his son's power of Shazam, which led to him destroying the kingdom as this godlike warrior. It was all vengeance, putting their enslavement to bed. Coincidentally, Adam re-emerges in the present to do the same again, battling Intergang, as well as the Justice Society, to keep Kahndaq free.
The public laps Black Adam up, celebrating him as a leader the same way Gladiator did with Maximus. However, the big difference with Adam comes with his happy ending. He seemingly dies when he escapes Amanda Waller's prison, but when he meets his family in the afterlife, his son asks him to go back. He believes Adam's job isn't done, which is why Adam transforms and heads off to finish the would-be dictator, Sabbac. It leads to the people worshipping him, transforming him into the leader the Romans wanted Maximus to be.
That said, Black Adam's ending is still heartbreaking because their deaths put him down this path in the first place, so one has to feel maybe he deserves closure with them. Ultimately, Adam opts to stay on and be Kahndaq's protector, delaying the reunion Maximus had but for the greater good to guard his people.
See how Gladiator exists spiritually in the plot of Black Adam, now playing in theaters.