Black Adam: Dwayne Johnson Responds to Backlash That DC Hero Kills in New Movie

We're just months away from the release of Black Adam, a DC Films entry that will finally bring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson into the superhero space. The film has shown segments of footage in the lead-up to its release, including in fan events like DC FanDome. The most recent look at the film arrived at this week's CinemaCon presentation, with a teaser that has not been released to the public, but has been described in descriptions online. One aspect of the footage has been an exchange between Johnson's Black Adam and Carter Hall / Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), in which Hawkman argues that "heroes don't kill people." Johnson responded to a fan who was confused by the line, and indicated that everything will make sense once they see the finished film.

"Superheroes live by a code of ethics and a line of integrity," Johnson previously explained. "But with Black Adam, depending on how you look at him, he has the ability to be a hero, an antihero, and a villain. One of the things that drew me to Black Adam is his origin. He started out enslaved. Any time you have a character, or any human being, who has wrongfully been held down by others, it means so much more when they begin to rise up. Black Adam rises with a big f-cking chip on his shoulder-and an edge. In the traditional DC Universe, as we all know, if you do something wrong Superman and Batman are gonna try and bring you to justice. If you do something wrong to Black Adam, you're going to die. It's that simple. I believe this character is going to bring a unique edge to the superhero genre. We're gonna be turning preconceived notions on their ear."

Joining Johnson and Hodge in Black Adam are Noah Centineo (To All the Boys I Love Before, Charlie's Angels) as Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell (Trinkets, Euphoria) as Cyclone, Sarah Shahi (The L Word, Sex/Life) as Adrianna Tomaz, and Pierce Brosnan (GoldenEye, Mamma Mia!) as Doctor Fate. Uli Latukefu (Young Rock), Marwan Kenzari (The Old Guard, Aladdin) Mohammed Amer (Ramy), James Cusati-Moyer (Prodigal Son), Bodhi Sabongui (Legends of Tomorrow) have also been cast in currently unknown roles.

"Black Adam is a disruptor in the DC Comics world, and it has to be a disruptor in the way that we make a superhero movie," director Jaume Collet-Serra previously revealed to Total Film. "I like to be challenged, and I wanted to create new technology, so we developed the way that [Adam] moves, the way that he flies, his costume. And then it trickled down to every other character and the movie itself. But there was always the goal – to be new and unique in the storytelling and in every aspect of it."  

What do you think of Dwayne Johnson's latest comments regarding Black Adam? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Black Adam is currently scheduled to be released in theaters on October 21st.

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