The first trailer for Black Adam is here and it's filled with the kind of bombastic action befitting Dwayne Johnson's long-gestating DC anti-hero. It's our most in-depth look yet at the movie, which has been a decade-plus in the making, and it sets up a tragic backstory for Black Adam, as well as introducing a few members of the first big-screen iteration of the Justice Society of America.
The trailer opens on a peaceful snowy mountain range, and as we hear the dulcet tones of Pierce Brosnan's Doctor Fate begin to speak, a large black spaceship flies through the idyllic locale. "What have your powers ever brought you?" Doctor Fate asks as we see Black Adam within the futuristic ship, covered in liquid inside a containment unit. "Nothing but heartbreak," Fate continues as we see a quick shot of Brosnan's take on the mystical DC superhero. This moment hints that the film will be following one of the key parts of Black Adam lore: millenia ago, Shazam banished the villain into space and it took him 5,000 years to get back to Earth.
So what kind of heartbreak has Teth-Adam suffered? Well, we get a glimpse of that here as we see him in Kahndaq--if the comics lore is to be followed, this would be the aforementioned 5000 years previously--the fictional nation of his birth. "I was a slave until I died," Johnson's voice reveals. "Then I was reborn a god." This is an interesting reveal as it tells us the movie is taking directly from the New 52 era of the character where he was a Kahndaqi slave bestowed with the power of the Wizard Shazam.
Expanding more on his tragic backstory, we then learn that Adam's son sacrificed himself to save his father's life. It feels like this could be a reworking of the Black Adam lore introduced in the Shazam backups featured in the New 52 Justice League series. In that story, Adam's nephew Aman is given the powers of Shazam and shares them to save Adam's life. But when Aman doesn't want to use his newfound strength to kill those who murdered their family, Adam takes the power for himself, killing Aman and saving Khandaq.
However close they stick to that dark backstory, this tragedy will likely be a key part of the movie and an ongoing thread for what drives Adam and his choices, both good and bad. During the Q&A, director Jaume Collet-Serra and Johnson both spoke about the importance of family to the movie and to the "why?" of Black Adam that's introduced in dynamic and tragic fashion here.
"Now I kneel to no one!," Adam exclaims as we see the previously shared footage of him levitating as a black ops group shoots at him, their bullets bouncing off his iconic comic book cloak. It's not all doom and gloom, though, as we're reminded that "in this world there are heroes" and we get our first proper looks at Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centino), the former in his comics-accurate, gold-winged garb and the latter in giant mode running through a city. We also see Doctor Fate in his classic golden helmet with his powers manifesting as golden cracks appear in the sky. It's an exciting moment that'll get JSA fans extremely pumped.
But where there's light there's also dark, so of course there are villains too as the voiceover reminds us. Now who exactly the villain of this movie is remains a mystery, but it's likely Adam will begin as an antagonist who becomes an unlikely ally to the JSA. However, not all the members are happy about the situation, especially Hawkman.
In what will undoubtedly become one of the most talked about moments of the trailer, Black Adam faces down Hodge’s timeless Egyptian hero who tells him, "Heroes don't kill people." There's a beat before Adam says the explosive--yet very honest--words that will launch a thousand fan conversations: "Well, I do." That shouldn't come as a surprise to comic book fans but it might to casual viewers who are used to their superheroes being... well, super.
Black Adam's history is fraught and violent but it's also wacky – as are so many Golden Age characters – and we get a nice nod to that when he gets hit in the head Roger Rabbit-style with a bar that does no damage. Cut to his assailant being punched comically high into the sky. It's one of the most tantalizing hints at the tonal shifts that'll be key to capturing Black Adam in all his shades of gray.
The trailer ends with another glimpse of Doctor Fate and a final show of power by Black Adam, who catches a rocket in front of two very confused and impressed witnesses in a minivan. Who was shooting it at him? Well, that's the big question we're left with after this trailer. Could it be that the only antagonist is Black Adam? Unlikely as there's a threat so great that Doctor Fate is putting together the Justice Society of America, so what could that threat be? We'll have to wait and see as we get closer to the release of what the creative team is calling the DC "disruptor."
Black Adam hits theaters on October 21, 2022.
Continue reading...
The trailer opens on a peaceful snowy mountain range, and as we hear the dulcet tones of Pierce Brosnan's Doctor Fate begin to speak, a large black spaceship flies through the idyllic locale. "What have your powers ever brought you?" Doctor Fate asks as we see Black Adam within the futuristic ship, covered in liquid inside a containment unit. "Nothing but heartbreak," Fate continues as we see a quick shot of Brosnan's take on the mystical DC superhero. This moment hints that the film will be following one of the key parts of Black Adam lore: millenia ago, Shazam banished the villain into space and it took him 5,000 years to get back to Earth.
So what kind of heartbreak has Teth-Adam suffered? Well, we get a glimpse of that here as we see him in Kahndaq--if the comics lore is to be followed, this would be the aforementioned 5000 years previously--the fictional nation of his birth. "I was a slave until I died," Johnson's voice reveals. "Then I was reborn a god." This is an interesting reveal as it tells us the movie is taking directly from the New 52 era of the character where he was a Kahndaqi slave bestowed with the power of the Wizard Shazam.
Expanding more on his tragic backstory, we then learn that Adam's son sacrificed himself to save his father's life. It feels like this could be a reworking of the Black Adam lore introduced in the Shazam backups featured in the New 52 Justice League series. In that story, Adam's nephew Aman is given the powers of Shazam and shares them to save Adam's life. But when Aman doesn't want to use his newfound strength to kill those who murdered their family, Adam takes the power for himself, killing Aman and saving Khandaq.
However close they stick to that dark backstory, this tragedy will likely be a key part of the movie and an ongoing thread for what drives Adam and his choices, both good and bad. During the Q&A, director Jaume Collet-Serra and Johnson both spoke about the importance of family to the movie and to the "why?" of Black Adam that's introduced in dynamic and tragic fashion here.
"Now I kneel to no one!," Adam exclaims as we see the previously shared footage of him levitating as a black ops group shoots at him, their bullets bouncing off his iconic comic book cloak. It's not all doom and gloom, though, as we're reminded that "in this world there are heroes" and we get our first proper looks at Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centino), the former in his comics-accurate, gold-winged garb and the latter in giant mode running through a city. We also see Doctor Fate in his classic golden helmet with his powers manifesting as golden cracks appear in the sky. It's an exciting moment that'll get JSA fans extremely pumped.
But where there's light there's also dark, so of course there are villains too as the voiceover reminds us. Now who exactly the villain of this movie is remains a mystery, but it's likely Adam will begin as an antagonist who becomes an unlikely ally to the JSA. However, not all the members are happy about the situation, especially Hawkman.
In what will undoubtedly become one of the most talked about moments of the trailer, Black Adam faces down Hodge’s timeless Egyptian hero who tells him, "Heroes don't kill people." There's a beat before Adam says the explosive--yet very honest--words that will launch a thousand fan conversations: "Well, I do." That shouldn't come as a surprise to comic book fans but it might to casual viewers who are used to their superheroes being... well, super.
Black Adam's history is fraught and violent but it's also wacky – as are so many Golden Age characters – and we get a nice nod to that when he gets hit in the head Roger Rabbit-style with a bar that does no damage. Cut to his assailant being punched comically high into the sky. It's one of the most tantalizing hints at the tonal shifts that'll be key to capturing Black Adam in all his shades of gray.
The trailer ends with another glimpse of Doctor Fate and a final show of power by Black Adam, who catches a rocket in front of two very confused and impressed witnesses in a minivan. Who was shooting it at him? Well, that's the big question we're left with after this trailer. Could it be that the only antagonist is Black Adam? Unlikely as there's a threat so great that Doctor Fate is putting together the Justice Society of America, so what could that threat be? We'll have to wait and see as we get closer to the release of what the creative team is calling the DC "disruptor."
Black Adam hits theaters on October 21, 2022.
Continue reading...