Warning: SPOILERS for Black Adam are ahead!
Although Black Adam, the latest addition to the DC movies library, was primarily made up of new DC Extended Universe characters, there were a few familiar faces who stopped by. Namely, it was Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller who tasked the Justice Society with apprehending Dwayne Johnson’s title character, and after the main story concluded, Henry Cavill’s Superman paid a visit to Kahndaq in the Black Adam end-credits scene. But as it turns out, Aldis Hodge, who plays JSA leader Carter Hall/Hawkman, didn’t learn about either of those actors being involved in Black Adam until late into the game.
Let’s start with Henry Cavill, as Black Adam marked the actor’s first time playing Superman in half a decade (remember that the Man of Steel was portrayed by a body double in Shazam! and the Peacemaker Season 1 finale). While Cavill’s Black Adam scene wasn’t shot until September, just a month before the movie premiered to the masses, Hodge didn’t learn about Superman’s presence until “maybe a day or two before the premiere.” However, Hodge admires the great lengths that were taken to keep Cavill’s cameo a secret, telling THR:
There was no talk of bringing back Superman and any of that. They’ve got to keep those things in a super vault, so all you can do is focus on trying to make Black Adam the best it can be. So you do hear things and you get ideas, but nothing is ever confirmed or really fully said. And honestly, I dig that because it was a huge surprise for me, and I love it that we got to experience it together with the audience. The fans have been trying to get Henry Cavill back in the red and blue for a minute, and D.J. was the perfect person to bring him back. It just doesn’t get any better.
So that accounts for Superman, but what about Amanda Waller? Well, remember that in Black Adam, the Task Force X leader we’ve previously seen in Suicide Squad, The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker only ever interacted with other characters over video calls. As such, it wasn’t until Black Adam was in reshoots that Aldis Hodge realized that David would be in the movie, having previously thought an appearance from her was no longer in the cards. He explained:
There was talk about it. Originally, there was an idea for her to jump in, but then I think there was a scheduling conflict. So when we first shot the movie, she wasn’t in it at all; we all had completely different scenes. But when we did reshoots, I saw her name on the script, and I said, ‘Oh shit!’ (Laughs.) So I kept that secret for the better part of this year, and it was pretty awesome.
Aldis Hodge added that he and Viola Davis previously worked together on the short-lived TV show City of Angels when he was “12 or 14 years old,” so although these two never actually reunite in person for Black Adam, it was “awesome” for him to “share the screen with her again in something of this magnitude.” It’s also worth remembering that Black Adam included Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt as Amanda Waller’s representative when the Justice Society brought the depowered Teth-Adam to that Task Force X black site. Emilia was introduced as a minor character in The Suicide Squad and later became one of Peacemaker’s leading protagonists.
If you’re a fan of Henry Cavill’s Superman and/or Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, the good news is we’ll be seeing more of them in the DCEU post-Black Adam. Cavill confirmed that this movie is “just a very small taste of things to come,” and along with Dwayne Johnson promising there will come a day when Black Adam and Superman fight on the big screen, it’s been reported that Warner Bros. wants to move forward with another Cavill-led Superman movie. As for Davis, there’s reportedly an Amanda Waller series in the works for HBO Max subscribers that Watchmen’s Christal Henry will write and executive produce.
Black Adam is still playing in theaters, but if you already caught it and have your gaze pointed to the future, then browse through the lineup of upcoming DC movies.
