The past year has been filled with a lot of highs and lows regarding the DC Universe, culminating in James Gunn and Peter Safran stepping in to co-lead DC Studios. Gunn and Safran’s efforts will involve a more concerted shared universe of movies, television shows, video games, and more inspired by the publisher’s characters — which has naturally begged the question about which existing live-action elements may or may not continue. On Tuesday, we got a pretty major inkling as to what that will entail, with Dwayne Johnson confirming that he will not be reprising his role as Black Adam in the first chapter of Gunn and Safran’s plans.
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Now, just two months after Black Adam‘s solo film made its debut in theaters, there’s the question of whether or not any elements from that project could ultimately carry over into the new DC Universe. In particular — what does the future hold for the film’s version of the Justice Society?
Who are the Justice Society in Black Adam?
Black Adam introduced fans to a quartet of Justice Society members — Carter Hall / Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Maxine Hunkel / Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Albert Rothstein / Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo). Initially serving as antagonists bringing Johnson’s Black Adam into incarceration, the Justice Society ultimately joined forces with him to defeat Sabbac (Marwan Kenzari).
While Black Adam leaves a lot of stones unturned regarding the Justice Society’s onscreen past, that almost works in the team’s favor when looking forward to the future. All that was established about the original Justice Society is that it partially consisted of Hawkman, Doctor Fate, and Al Pratt / Atom-Smasher (Henry Winkler), and that Cyclone’s grandmother, Ma Hunkel / Red Tornado, also exists in the universe in some capacity, but it wasn’t even clear what era those heroes had thrived in. It would be incredibly easy to remix and recontexualize the Justice Society’s history in this new DC Universe — adding new members to their past or present roster, and establishing them as having existed in the comic-accurate era of the 1940s.
What’s next for the Justice Society in the DC Universe?
Beyond that, there’s a lot still unexplored regarding the individual members of the Justice Society — the film barely leaned into the wild backstory of Hawkman, something that could easily provide the fodder for its own movie saga or HBO Max series. The rest of the team could theoretically pop up in another context — even Doctor Fate, who technically sacrificed himself in Black Adam‘s third act. (But, as comic fans will attest, magic users in the DCU don’t stay dead for long.) With Hodge and Gunn already knowing each other, and with each of the team members we saw onscreen being tied to some compelling mantle in the comics, it would hypothetically make sense to keep them on board if their stories are part of these new plans.
While there’s no telling exactly what Gunn and Safran’s slate has in store (at least, for the next few weeks), it certainly doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility for the Justice Society to be included in it somewhere. (Gunn’s Thanksgiving message to fans last month was accompanied by a comic panel of the Justice Society and the Justice League celebrating the holiday together, further fueling that theory.) The Justice Society are not only the first official super-team in the pages of mainstream superhero comics, but they’ve largely remained a beloved, inspirational corner of DC’s comics, and it’s safe to say that DCU could use that kind of uplifting legacy going forward. Even if they’re portrayed by different actors than in Black Adam, the Justice Society’s story absolutely deserves to be told in the DCU’s future.
Do you hope the Justice Society is still part of DC Studios’ plans? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
