Black Adam: Submit-Credit Scene, Messy DC Cameo Defined as Film Hits HBO Max

Black Adam got here to HBO Max on Friday, after DC Comics’ violent antihero movie concluded its theatrical run. With Dwayne Johnson within the lead function, Adam beats up hero and villain alike after being launched from a 5,000-year imprisonment, from the early scenes till the credit roll (the post-credits scene is relatively chill).

“The arrival of megastar Dwayne Johnson within the DC universe, plus the lengthy watch for the movie’s arrival, constructed Black Adam into feeling like an occasion,” CNET’s Richard Trenholm said in his review. “Now it is right here, and it does not really feel that momentous. Nonetheless, it is a massive spectacular time on the films, and what extra would you like from the Rock?”

A lot of this Shazam spinoff’s battle is brought on by the friction between Adam and the Justice Society of America, which incorporates Physician Destiny (Pierce Brosnan), Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell).

Nonetheless, there’s another hero ready within the wings. Somebody who seems solely when Black Adam’s first journey is completed, however it’s a cameo that hits in another way following a recent move by new DC Studios boss James Gunn.

Let’s Shazam our method into the land of SPOILERS and discuss concerning the post-credits scene.

The Man of Metal returns

With demonic champion Sabbac ripped in two and Black Adam firmly put in as Kahndaq’s champion, Job Drive X boss Amanda Waller (performed by Viola Davis, and final seen in HBO Max collection Peacemaker) sends a drone to the temple Adam hangs out in so she will have a pleasant Zoom with the antihero. 

Sadly, Waller is incapable of being pleasant and is livid about Adam escaping captivity in her base. She warns him to remain in Kahndaq or she’ll ship extraordinarily highly effective individuals who owe her favors to cease him. 

Adam mainly tells her to deliver it on, so a flying being lands dramatically and a well-recognized caped silhouette emerges from the smoke.

Oh jeepers, guys, it is solely Superman (Henry Cavill).

“It has been some time since anybody’s made the world so nervous,” the Kryptonian hero says. “Black Adam, we should always discuss.”

What does it imply?

It positive regarded like we had been gonna get extra of Cavill’s model of Superman, and he was virtually actually going to struggle Black Adam. Nonetheless, Cavill later introduced that the struggle’s been referred to as off — he won’t be returning to the role after all. 

For the reason that film’s launch, dad or mum firm Warner Bros. Discovery mentioned director James Gunn (accountable for The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, in addition to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy series) and producer Peter Safran, will lead the reorganized DC Studios. On Dec. 14, Cavill mentioned he met with the pair, who advised him their interpretation of DC’s cinematic universe wanted a recent interpretation of the character — Gunn later confirmed this in a tweet.

“Amongst these on the slate is Superman,” he wrote. “Within the preliminary levels, our story might be specializing in an earlier a part of Superman’s life, so the character won’t be performed by Henry Cavill.”

The laborious reboot is sensible, however Johnson is undoubtedly disillusioned. He shared a few of his concepts about how the battle would play out with YouTuber Jake’s Takes in an interview previous to the film’s launch. 

“I feel Black Adam lands the primary punch. Now, I do not know if Black Adam lands the final punch,” he mentioned. “I can see issues so clearly … what that scene appears to be like like, what that movie appears to be like like, what the subsequent three movies appear like. Now, whether or not or not that involves fruition — that all the time helps, when you’ve gotten that sort of readability.”

Cavill Supes debuted in 2013’s Man of Steel and was final seen in Zack Snyder’s Justice League (aka the Snyder Lower) in 2021, and that film’s ending left us in an awesome dark future where he’d been corrupted. 

The director mentioned that isn’t canon, however each the Snyder Lower and Joss Whedon’s 2017 model of the film see the uncorrupted, present-day Superman becoming a member of Batman and Marvel Lady getting ready to arrange the Justice League. 

The workforce additionally confirmed up within the finale of HBO present Peacemaker earlier this 12 months, however Superman remained within the shadows in that look (he was performed by Brad Abramenko). The character confirmed up in related vogue in 2019’s Shazam, the place he was solely seen from the neck down (and portrayed by Ryan Handley).

So Superman has by no means been too removed from our screens. The character is iconic and archetypal sufficient that a number of variations may exist (and doubtless come collectively in a multiversal crossover like Spider-Man: No Way Home). Cavill will virtually actually return to the function sometime, however we might by no means see the battle with Black Adam is it was initially deliberate.

What can the comics inform us?

Black Adam’s lengthy comedian e-book historical past is advanced as a result of DC’s multiple continuity reboots, having began out as a villain back in 1945. He is turn into extra nuanced within the many years since, shifting towards a darkish antihero who usually enters into uneasy alliances with the heroes (largely as a result of he is a violent, unpredictable and sort of a jerk).

That might have occurred within the subsequent film as nicely — Adam and Superman would seemingly have had an epic battle earlier than reaching some sort of a truce. Regardless of his bodily prowess, Superman is historically vulnerable to magic, which means Adam would have had the benefit.

Shazam might have gotten concerned too, since he and Superman are buds and Shazam’s powers are derived from the identical supply as Adam’s. Regardless, that character will present up in Shazam: Fury of the Gods, which is scheduled to hit theaters on March 17, 2023.