With James Gunn and Peter Safran working on a new DCU, Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam becomes a massive example of wasted potential.

Dwayne Johnson’s passion project, Black Adam, has seemingly, and unfortunately, come and gone. A years-in-the-making story, finally bringing one of DC’s most powerful anti-heroes to the big screen, has become one of the final chapters in the DC Extended Universe. With James Gunn and Peter Safran’s extensive, overarching creative plan for the new DC Universe well underway, the much hoped-for showdown between Henry Cavill’s Superman and Johnson’s Black Adam — much less a Black Adam sequel — is now nothing more than wasted potential.

The new, interconnected DCU, comprised of various shows and films in the pre-production phase, is to be kicked off with a new Superman film in 2025, focusing on a younger incarnation of DC’s greatest hero. Essentially a total do-over, this effectively puts the futures of 2023’s cinematic slate in question, too. Ultimately, though, Black Adam will remain what it is — a hyper-charged, action-packed, visually stunning superhero story packed with lore, depth, and heart.

Black Adam Brought Comics’ First Superhero Team to the Big Screen

Moving at a brisk pace, Black Adam makes sure to set up both its lead character — a stern, haunted, but ultimately righteous anti-hero named Teth Adam — and his ancient backstory, tied to the fictional country of Kahndaq. Beset in the present day by high-tech, international mercenaries known as Intergang, the movie reframes the actions of globe-trotting superheroes within an important context, best summarized by Black Adam himself during one of his many confrontations with Hawkman: “Not your country, not your decision to make.”

While depicted at virtually a third of their power, Black Adam paid respect to comics’ first-ever superhero team, the Justice Society of America, by bringing characters like Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher to the silver screen for the first time ever. Dispatched by Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis in her fourth live-action DC appearance) to neutralize Black Adam, Hawkman and the rest of the JSA eventually enter into a complicated alliance with Adam to defeat a greater threat.

Black Adam Fit Into Shazam’s Expanding World

The demonic Sabbac — a feral, fiery, and destructive “champion” of the six most powerful demons of Hell — is most likely a new character for many viewers. But his inclusion in Black Adam provides another link between Black Adam and the Shazam! films, as Sabbac is one of the Shazam Family’s greatest foes. The original seven members of the Council of Wizards also make a brief appearance, with a familiar face — the Wizard Shazam himself, played by Djimon Hounsou — rounding out the ranks of Earth’s magical defenders.

Black Adam and Shazam share the same kind of power and mystic link to the Rock of Eternity — making some sort of confrontation a foregone (and epic) conclusion. But now, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and The Flash will lead into the new DCU, essentially leaving Black Adam (and many other characters) on the wayside as DC restructures its brand. Similar to Johnson’s Adam, it’s likely fans have seen the last of Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman, Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate, Noah Centineo’s Atom Smasher, and Quintessa Swindell’s Cyclone.

Dwayne Johnson Added a Lot to Black Adam

Black Adam had immense potential to further expand the DCEU, either with a continuation of his own series or by appearing in other heroes’ films. Created in 1945 while still the property of Fawcett Comics, Black Adam is a storied, complex, and iconic character. Visually and thematically a perfect antithesis to Superman, Johnson’s characterization also proved to have a (very) dry sense of humor, making for engaging interactions among the movie’s core cast of characters. The actor’s impressive physique also lent weight and believability to Adam’s combat scenes, as well as making for a truly dominating screen presence.

A one-of-a-kind role for its star, Black Adam managed to (however briefly) bring Cavill back as Superman — as well as discuss the very complex implications of the Justice Society’s involvement in Kahndaq, a country beset by gangsters that the JSA had done nothing about before Black Adam’s accidental reawakening. In a broader sense, Black Adam showed that the existing DCEU could and would have been able to go toe-to-toe with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially since other DC films — like Todd Phillips’ Joker — can tell the kinds of stories Marvel can’t. In the end, the film will remain a fun, high-adrenaline, well-crafted piece of comic book filmmaking — no matter the naysayers or lost potential going forward.