With a tentative December 22, 2021 release date, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s solo Black Adam movie has solidified its production schedule after nearly thirteen years of on and off development. If recent script and plot confirmations have revealed anything, it’s that the film is going to be jam-packed with heroes from all around the DC universe.
The Illuminerdi recently broke down Adam Sztykiel’s latest draft of the screenplay, tentatively confirming that the film’s Justice Society of America will feature Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Doctor Fate, Atom Smasher, and Cyclone. Additionally, Black Adam’s love interest, Adrianna, is penned to hold a sizeable presence throughout the film’s narrative, with another critical role for the goddess’ son, Aziz, also rounding out the cast. With so many characters, Black Adam might be setting itself up for failure by asking for so much.
For one, the Justice Society of America will require a sizeable amount of screen time to justify its inclusion. The first superhero team ever created, the JSA is a team of Golden Age meta-humans that would go on to inspire the likes of the Justice League. As such, the majority of Black Adam will likely transpire as a period piece, adding another corner of the DC Universe that will need to be established.
That’s not to mention the film’s narrative upkeep of the members of the team, who will also make their silver screen debuts alongside Black Adam. While Doctor Fate could be played cryptically with his role in the latest draft minimal, Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s complicated powers, origin, and reincarnation based relationship demand a certain degree of explanation in order to be understood by casual moviegoers. As if that isn't enough, in addition to the hawk couple and Black Adam and Adrianna’s romance, Atom Smasher and Cyclone are reportedly getting their own love story.
On top of juggling all these characters and their individual storylines, Black Adam will still have to properly introduce its protagonist and the unique side of the world he inhabits. While the world of Black Adam and a little about his character were introduced in 2019's Shazam!, his powers and the rules of this kind of magic could use some fleshing out onscreen. Given his importance to Black Adam’s origin and the teased setup from Shazam!, an appearance from Djimon Hounsou’s Shazam wouldn’t be out of the question even though it would add another character to the heavily cast film, but an appearance from Billy Batson's Shazam will likely happen in another film.
With a huge cast and wild powers, the film also has the challenge of Black Adam's origin taking place 5,000 years ago in Egypt. Covering two entirely different but equally important eras of history - the Golden Age of comics and ancient Egypt - is a lot to squeeze into one movie, even at a generous two-and-a-half-hour runtime.
Despite these potential roadblocks, if Black Adam can pull off its ambitious narrative, it will mark an entirely new scope of grandeur for superhero films. It's also grimmer and grittier than other comic book movies, making it the tonal antithesis of Shazam! This sets up an epic showdown with Zachary Levi’s quippy kid hero in the future if Black Adam is a hit in 2021.
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, Black Adam stars Dwayne Johnson. The film is scheduled to arrive in theaters on December 22, 2021.