Black Adam Producer Makes The Rock's Superpowers Sound Absolutely Epic

Black Adam flying away from JSA concept art

Anyone remotely familiar with Black Adam knows he’s one of the biggest powerhouses in the DC Comics universe. Not only has he clashed with Shazam numerous times over the decades, he’s also given mighty superheroes like Superman a run for their money on various occasions. From everything we’ve learned so far, it doesn’t sound like the Black Adam movie will be toning down the eponymous character’s powers. In fact, producer Hiram Garcia latest comments on the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson-led feature make the DC Extended Universe’s Black Adam’s powers sound quite epic.

While it remains to be seen in the DCEU’s Black Adam will draw his powers from the same deities/mythological figures as Shazam (Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury) or if they’ll come from Egyptian gods as frequently depicted in the comics (She, Horus, Amon, Zehuti, Aten and Mehen), he’ll nonetheless have things like super strength, super speed, flight and conjuring lightning at his disposal. Here’s what Hiram Garcia had to say about these powers being depicted in a cinematic setting:

This is a character with amazing abilities. He has super speed, can fly, and has world breaking strength to name a few. We wanted to make sure moviegoers feel that throughout the entire movie. You're not going to see him use super speed just once and then it stops, this is part of his arsenal.

Hiram Garcia added in his interview with Collider that new technology is being utilized to make Black Adam fly, and that properly showing off the antihero’s power was “of the utmost importance when developing the movie.” So although Shazam and Black Adam have similar abilities, it sounds like the way said abilities are shown off in the latter’s movie will be different compared to what we saw in 2019 with Zachary Levi’s version of the former. Garcia also noted that just because Black Adam will be rated PG-13 doesn’t meant that the movie won’t properly represent the character’s “edge and power,” and promised that his lethal brand of dispensing justice will be on display.

While specific plot details for Black Adam still haven’t been revealed yet, along with learning how the man once known as Teth-Adam gained his powers in the days of ancient Kahndaq, we’ll also see him wreaking havoc in the present day following 5,000 years of imprisonment. This will involve him clashing with the Justice Society of America, which consists of Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman, Noah Centineo’s Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell’s Cyclone and Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate. Sarah Shahi also stars as Adrianna Tomaz (who becomes Isis in the comics), and the nefarious Intergang will factor into the story.

While Dwayne Johnson wrapped his time on Black Adam earlier this month, the movie still has a few more weeks to go before principal photography is complete. Audiences will be able to see the final product on display come July 29, 2022, so for now, keep track of what else the DCEU has in store with our upcoming DC Comics movies guide. And, of course, stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more Black Adam updates.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.