Black Adam (film)

''Black Adam'' is a 2022 American superhero film starring Dwayne Johnson as the titular DC Comics character. The film is a spin-off to ''Shazam!'' (2019) and the 11th film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani. In addition to Johnson, the film stars Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell and Pierce Brosnan. It is produced by New Line Cinema, DC Films, Seven Bucks Productions and FlynnPictureCo., and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The story centers around Adam, an ancient superhuman who is released from his magic imprisonment by a group of archeologists to free the nation of Kahndaq from the crime syndicate Intergang.

Johnson was attached to ''Shazam!'' early in development and confirmed to portray the villain Black Adam in September 2014, but the producers later decided to give the character his own film. Sztykiel was hired in October 2017. Collet-Serra joined in June 2019 with a planned release date of December 2021, but this timeline was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional casting took place over the next year, including four members of the Justice Society of America, along with the script being rewritten by Haines and Noshirvani. Filming took place from April to August 2021 at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and also in Los Angeles.

''Black Adam'' had its world premiere in Mexico City on October 3, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 21, 2022. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the acting and action sequences, but criticized the screenplay. It grossed $391 million worldwide against a production budget of $190–260 million; by some estimates, it failed to recoup its total cost after marketing and distribution costs, resulting in publications labeling it as a box-office bomb.

Plot

In 2600 BC, the tyrannical king Ahk-Ton of Kahndaq creates the Crown of Sabbac to attain great power. After attempting to stage a revolt, a young slave boy is given the powers of Shazam by the Council of Wizards, transforming him into Kahndaq's heroic champion, who kills Ahk-Ton and ends his reign.

In the present day, Kahndaq is oppressed by the Intergang, a mercenary organization, as Adrianna Tomaz, an archaeologist and resistance-fighter, tries to locate the Crown of Sabbac with the help of her brother Karim and their colleagues Samir and Ishmael. As Adrianna obtains the crown, Intergang ambushes them and kills Samir, forcing Adrianna to read an incantation that awakens Teth-Adam, whom she believes to be Kahndaq's champion, from a slumber. As he slaughters most of the Intergang troops, US government official Amanda Waller deems Adam a threat and contacts the Justice Society to apprehend him. Justice Society members Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher arrive in time to stop Adam's killing spree and explain to Adrianna that Adam was not an entombed savior, but an imprisoned killer.

Ishmael reveals himself as the leader of Intergang in Kahndaq and kidnaps Adrianna's teenage son Amon, who has stolen and hidden the crown. Adam, Adrianna, and the Justice Society find the crown and intend to trade it for Amon. Reaching Ishmael, he reveals himself as the last descendant of King Ahk-Ton and wants his rightful place on the throne. Adrianna willingly gives the crown to save Amon's life, but Ishmael betrays his part of the deal and shoots at Amon, causing Adam to lose control and destroy the hideout with his powers, killing Ishmael and wounding Amon. Guilt-ridden, Adam flees to the ruins of Ahk-Ton's palace and reveals to Hawkman that the legends of Kahndaq's champion were misattributed; it was Adam's son, Hurut, who was granted Shazam's powers and became Kahndaq's champion. Knowing that Hurut was invincible, Ahk-Ton instructed assassins to execute Hurut's family, including Adam and Hurut's mother. Hurut gave Adam his powers to save his life and Ahk-Ton's assassins immediately killed the de-powered Hurut, causing an enraged Adam to massacre all of the king's men and inadvertently destroy his palace. Subsequently, deemed unworthy by the Council of Wizards, Adam attacked and killed them all in anger except for Shazam, who succeeded in imprisoning him along with the Crown of Sabbac within what became Adam's tomb.

Feeling incapable of becoming a true hero, Adam surrenders and the Justice Society takes him to a secret underwater Task Force X black site in Antarctica, where Fate has a premonition of Hawkman's impending death. As the Justice Society returns to the city, they realize Ishmael intentionally provoked Adam to kill him while he wore the Crown just as Ishamel is reborn as a champion of the six demons of Sabbac and rises from the underworld to claim his throne. When Sabbac summons the Legions of Hell to terrorize Kahndaq, the people are rallied by Amon, Adrianna, and Karim to repel the undead as the Justice Society prepares to face Sabbac. However, Fate creates a magic force field around the ruins preventing his teammates from entering, disclosing that Hawkman's death can be avoided with his sacrifice. As he fights Sabbac alone, Fate uses astral projection to release Adam while talking to him in his cryo sleep. Sabbac kills Fate, and as a result, it dissolves the force field and allows the other heroes to fight, and Adam arrives just as Sabbac is about to kill the Justice Society. With aid from Hawkman using Fate's helmet, Adam kills Sabbac, and the Justice Society departs on good terms with Adam, who accepts his new role as Kahndaq's protector after destroying the old throne and adopting a new name: Black Adam.

In a mid-credits scene, Waller communicates with a defiant Adam and warns him against leaving Kahndaq. Afterwards, Superman arrives and suggests that they should talk.

Cast

* Dwayne Johnson as Teth-Adam / Black Adam:
A former slave from Kahndaq who, similar to the superhero Shazam, was bestowed with the powers of various Egyptian gods from the ancient wizard of the same name. He possesses "the stamina of Shu, the speed of Heru, the strength of Amon, the wisdom of Zehuti, the power of Aten, and the courage of Mehen". Benjamin Patterson serves as the body double for Teth-Adam in scenes where he is depicted in his human form, while Johnson's face was superimposed onto the character for these sequences. The character previously appeared in ''Shazam!'' (2019) in a brief cameo, during a sequence where the wizard teaches Billy Batson about the previous recipients of his powers. Johnson also voiced the character in a post-credits cameo, ahead of the character's live-action debut, in the unrelated animated film ''DC League of Super-Pets'' (2022).
* Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall / Hawkman: The leader of the Justice Society who wields technology and weapons made of Nth metal, a substance from another planet.
* Noah Centineo as Albert "Al" Rothstein / Atom Smasher: A young member of the Justice Society, with the metahuman ability to control his molecular structure which manipulates his size and strength.
* Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz: A university professor and resistance fighter in modern-day Kahndaq, who proves to be an ally for Adam and the Justice Society.
* Marwan Kenzari as Ishmael Gregor / Sabbac:
The last descendant of King Ahk-Ton and militant leader of the forces of the mercenary organization Intergang invading Kahndaq. Unlike Teth-Adam, Sabbac was bestowed with the powers of the six most powerful demons of Hell: Satan, Aym, Belial, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, and Crateis.
** Kenzari also portrays Ahk-Ton, Ishmael's ancestor and the ancient tyrannical king of Kahndaq, who was killed by Adam.
* Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkel / Cyclone:
A young member of the Justice Society, who was experimented on and injected with nanobot technology at a young age, resulting in her receiving the ability to control and manipulate wind. As the granddaughter of Abigail "Ma" Hunkel / Red Tornado she seeks to live up to her familial superhero legacy. Swindell studied dancing techniques when designing their character's movement.
* Bodhi Sabongui as Amon Tomaz: Adrianna's teenage son, who befriends Adam.
* Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate:
An experienced and senior member of the Justice Society, who wields the Helmet of Fate and is capable of various sorcery abilities. Nelson is the son of an archeologist, with whom he discovered the tomb of Nabu the Wise. After attaining a mystic-sentient helmet from another dimension, which chooses who it allows to wield it, he mastered his powers and used them as a superhero over many years. Brosnan wore a motion capture suit for the role.

Additionally, Mohammed Amer portrays Karim, Adrianna's brother and Amon's uncle, and James Cusati-Moyer portrays Samir, a colleague of Adrianna and Karim. Jalon Christian appears as Hurut, Adam's son who becomes the original Champion of Kahndaq deemed pure of heart to wield the powers of Shazam, with his superhero form portrayed by Uli Latukefu. Odelya Halevi portrays Shiruta, Adam's wife who was murdered by Ahk-Ton's men during the flashback scenes set in ancient Kahndaq. Henry Winkler cameos as Al Pratt, Rothstein's uncle who was the previous Atom Smasher.

Djimon Hounsou reprises his role from ''Shazam!'' as the wizard Shazam, and Jennifer Holland reprises her role from '' The Suicide Squad'' (2021) and '' Peacemaker'' (2022) as Emilia Harcourt. Viola Davis and Henry Cavill appear uncredited, reprising their respective DCEU roles as Amanda Waller and Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman.

Production

Development

New Line Cinema began the development of a ''Shazam!'' feature film in the early 2000s, based on the DC Comics character Captain Marvel. The title came from the wizard Shazam who gives the hero his powers, with DC unable to use the title ''Captain Marvel'' due to legal issues. Peter Segal signed on to direct the film in April 2006, and Dwayne Johnson was approached about portraying Captain Marvel later that year. By November 2007, Johnson was also interested in the film's antagonist, Black Adam, and had received positive responses from fans about him possibly playing that character. Development on the film was placed on hold by January 2009, but had begun again by April 2014 when Warner Bros. (the parent company of New Line) and DC began planning a slate of superhero films for its shared universe, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). That August, Johnson said he was still attached to the film but had not yet decided if he would play Captain Marvel or Black Adam. A month later, Johnson announced that he would portray Black Adam.

In January 2017, Johnson met with DC's Geoff Johns to discuss the project after studio executives grew concerned that an actor of Johnson's profile was being used as a villain and supporting character in the film instead of starring in it. Following that meeting, they decided to split the project into two films: ''Shazam!'' (2019), starring the hero Captain Marvel, whom DC had since rebranded as Shazam; and ''Black Adam'', with Johnson starring as the title antihero. Johnson said the two characters would meet onscreen in the future. Johns confirmed in July that Johnson would not appear in ''Shazam!'', though his likeness is used in that film for a magical hologram of Black Adam conjured by the wizard Shazam.

Adam Sztykiel was hired to write the screenplay for ''Black Adam'' in October 2017, with Johnson set to produce the film with Dany and Hiram Garcia of Seven Bucks Productions along with Beau Flynn of FlynnPictureCo. At that time, there were plans for Johnson to first appear as Black Adam in the sequel to ''Suicide Squad'' (2016), which had Gavin O'Connor attached as writer and possible director. The intention was for the members of the Suicide Squad to be tracking a weapon of mass destruction which would be revealed as Black Adam in a small role for Johnson, but these plans were abandoned when O'Connor left that film in 2018. Sztykiel completed a draft of the script by April 2018, when Johnson said there was potential for filming to begin in 2019. At the end of August, Sztykiel handed in another draft and further revisions were underway. Hiram Garcia said then that giving Shazam and Black Adam their own films was allowing the best movie for each character to be developed, and he added that their depiction of Black Adam was not going to be "softened up for audiences", explaining that he is "not the boy scout superhero, he's the guy that's like, okay, you cross him? Well, I rip your head off". In December, Johnson said filming would not begin until the end of 2019 at the earliest due to his commitments to '' Jumanji: The Next Level'' (2019) and '' Red Notice'' (2021).

After the successful release of ''Shazam!'', ''Black Adam'' became a priority for New Line. By June 2019, Jaume Collet-Serra was in talks to direct the film after impressing Johnson as the director of ''Jungle Cruise'' (2021). Collet-Serra described Black Adam as the Dirty Harry of superheroes, and said the film would show a darker version of Johnson compared to the adventure comedy ''Jungle Cruise''. Johnson revealed in October that filming would begin in July 2020, and announced the following month that ''Black Adam'' was scheduled to be released on December 22, 2021. He also said Shazam would not appear in the film, but members of the Justice Society of America (JSA) would be introduced.

Pre-production

Johnson stated in mid-April 2020 that filming had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they were now planning to begin production in August or September of that year. By July, filming was expected to begin in early 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia, and Noah Centineo was cast as Atom Smasher. During the virtual DC FanDome event in August, Johnson revealed that the film's version of the JSA would include Hawkman, Doctor Fate, and Cyclone, in addition to Atom Smasher. He explained that Hawkgirl was originally included in the team, but for a complicated reason she ultimately could not be used in the film and was replaced with Cyclone.

Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani had written a new draft of the script by September, when Aldis Hodge was cast as Hawkman. Collet-Serra discussed his comparisons of the character of Dirty Harry with Johnson, saying "The systems were corrupt, so you had criminals taking advantage. You needed a cop that would cut through the bullshit and basically do what needed to be done. That's very much in line with Black Adam and his way of thinking. I think that's appealing to pretty much everybody. Everybody knows how the world sometimes is not fair, and you need people that break the rules to even out the playing field." Johnson remarked that "the Black in Black Adam refers to his soul", and described his worldview as "myopic", adding that for Adam, "There's no room or space for him being wrong. There's no room or space for anyone else's opinion. There's only room and space for him to justify anything that he does because of his pain. And he pushes and pushes and pushes and does not see any other way. It's very black and white."

The next month, Warner Bros. adjusted their upcoming release schedule due to the pandemic, leaving ''Black Adam'' without a release date. Later in October, Sarah Shahi joined the cast as Adrianna Tomaz. Quintessa Swindell was cast as Cyclone in December, with Marwan Kenzari joining the cast in February 2021. Filming was expected to begin that April, with the construction of the sets beginning by mid-March. Pierce Brosnan was cast as Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate at the end of March, and the film was given a new release date of July 29, 2022. In April, James Cusati-Moyer, Bodhi Sabongui, Mo Amer, and Uli Latukefu joined the cast in undisclosed roles. Latukefu previously worked with Johnson on the series '' Young Rock'', while Sabongui's character was described as a key role from the Black Adam comics.

Henry Cavill reprises his role as Superman from other DCEU films during the film's mid-credits scene; this marks his first time shooting material as the character since ''Justice League'' (2017). Johnson stated that Seven Bucks Productions, including himself, Dany Garcia, and Hiram Garcia, played an integral role in the re-negotiations between Warner Bros. and Cavill. Johnson originally pitched the idea for Cavill to reprise his role to DC Films president Walter Hamada, who rejected the idea due to his plans for different Superman projects.

Filming

Principal photography began on April 10, 2021, at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, with Lawrence Sher serving as cinematographer after previously shooting DC's '' Joker'' (2019). Filming was delayed from an initial July 2020 start due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson said on June 20, 2021, that there were three weeks left of filming, and on July 15 he announced that he had completed his scenes. Filming then continued without Johnson for several weeks, with the production moving to Los Angeles, and had wrapped by August 15.

The mid-credits scene was filmed in parts, with Johnson filming it at the end of a day of reshoots and additional photography. The next part was filmed using a body double, without showing the actor's face. Sher said this version of the scene was included in test screening, to positive reactions, prompting a renewed push to include Cavill. Johnson approached Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chairmen Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who approved the idea. The final version of the scene was shot remotely in London in September 2022, a month before the film's premiere.

Post-production

Bill Westenhofer serves as the visual effects supervisor for the film, after doing so for the DCEU film ''Wonder Woman'' (2017), while John Lee and Michael L. Sale are the editors. Visual effects vendors included Weta FX, UPP, Scanline VFX, Digital Domain, DNEG, Rodeo VFX, Lola VFX, Cantina Creative, Tippett Studio, and EDI Effetti Digitali Italiani.

In March 2022, Warner Bros. adjusted its release schedule due to the impacts of COVID-19 on the workload of visual effects vendors. ''Black Adam'' was pushed back to October 21, 2022, with '' The Flash'' and '' Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom'' moved from late 2022 into 2023 to allow time for their visual effects work to be completed. The delay for ''Black Adam'' was also reportedly due to reshoots that were scheduled for February 2022 having to be postponed because most of the studio space at Trilith was being taken up by production on '' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'' (2023). Once shooting for that film ended, reshoots for ''Black Adam'' began in early May, and had concluded early the next month. Initially greenlit on a $190 million budget, the final cost of the film ballooned to as much as $260 million due to the reshoots. Collet-Serra confirmed that work on the film had been completed with a picture lock being achieved by July 2022.

Final writing credits were given to Sztykiel, Haines, and Noshirvani, while an additional literary material credit was attributed to David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick who scribed DC's ''Aquaman'' (2018). In October 2022, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Holland were revealed to be reprising their respective DCEU roles as Shazam and Emilia Harcourt, the former from ''Shazam!'' (2019), and the latter from '' The Suicide Squad'' (2021) and the first season of '' Peacemaker''. The film initially received an R rating due to several gruesome death scenes and many cuts had to be made to the film to receive the lower PG-13 rating.

Music

In July 2022, it was announced that Lorne Balfe, who previously wrote additional music for DC's ''The Dark Knight Trilogy'' and composed the music for ''The Lego Batman Movie'' (2017), would compose the score for the film. Black Adam and the Justice Society's themes were released by WaterTower Music as singles on September 30 and October 5, respectively, and the full soundtrack was released on October 21. A rendition of John Williams' '' Superman'' (1978) theme is played during the mid-credits scene, which Cavill said was selected over Hans Zimmer's ''