While most fans of DC’s cinematic universe are excited due to Black Adam bringing back Henry Cavill’s Superman, the film also introduced a number of a new heroes, including Aldis Hodge as Hawkman. While we don’t know wha t the future may hold for Hawkman, Hodge already left Black Adam with lastiing memories, specifically, the memory of trying not to clock Dwayne Johnson in the face.
A large part of Black Adam sees Hawkman and the Justice Society battling Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam, and Aldis Hodge tells THR that of everything that he went through in the production, his big takeaway was that he never accidentally hit Dwayne Johnson ion the face. Hodge says using Hawkman’s trademark mace was so new to him he apparently aspent the whole time afraid he would accidentally swing the thing too close to the movie’s big star. Hodge explained…
My lasting memory is that I never hit him. That was all I cared about. I’m actually serious. Swinging around that mace, man … I grew up a fighter, and in terms of real fighting and stunt fighting, it’s all about understanding and knowing your distance. With real fighting, you need to know your distance and your opponent’s distance exactly, so that you know when to lock in, clock them and get out. With stunt fighting, you need to know your distance so that you never touch the other person, but the mace required the full extension of my arm. So I had to deal with understanding a different length because the mace added a couple extra feet.
While Aldis Hodge says he had plenty of experience with both real fighting and stunt fighting, his experience was in hand-to-hand style. Using a weapon, like a mace, was something he had not done previously, and so he was afraid that he would misjudge the extra range the weapon gave him, and accidently hit the person he was swinging at, in this case, The Rock.
Swinging a mace with full arm extension would certainly have the potential to hurt Dwayne Johnson if he hit him with it. Though considering the work The Rock put in for Black Adam, perhaps her would have just shaken it off. However, Hodge says actually hurting The Rock wasn’t his real concern. In this case, even scratching the man’s face would have been bad news, as it would have shut down the production for a time, and the Hawkman actor did not want to be responsible for that. He continues…
Man, all I wanted to do was make it through the day without scratching that man’s face. Because if I scratched his face and we had to shut it down because of me? Yeah, that’s no bueno. But aside from that, the back problems are probably [another lasting memory].
It sounds like the Hawkman wings were also a bit of a problem for Hodge. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean he’s unwilling to return as Hawkman. Even if we don’t see him again, or don’t seen him soon, he’s now had experience with that mace, so the next movie should be easier.
