After years of being in development, DC’s Black Adam movie is finally expected to debut in theaters this summer. The film will be anchored by Dwayne Johnson’s take on the titular antihero, and if last year’s DC FanDome teaser trailer was any indication, it will be unlike anything we’ve seen in the superhero world thus far. Recent comments by Johnson in an interview with Men’s Journal seem to echo that argument, as the actor spoke about how his performance of Black Adam will have “a unique edge” within the superhero landscape.
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“Superheroes live by a code of ethics and a line of integrity,” Johnson 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 in Black Adam are Aldis Hodge (Underground, The Invisible Man) as Hawkman, 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.”
Black Adam is set to be released exclusively in theaters on July 29th.
