Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from a screenplay by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, the film stars Dwayne Johnson as Teth-Adam / Black 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, whose local leader plans to obtain an ancient relic called the Crown of Sabbac to take control of it.

early in development and confirmed to portray the villain Black Adam in September 2014, but the producers, at Johnson's urging, later decided to give the character his own film.

In 2600 BC, the tyrannical king Ahk-Ton of Kahndaq enslaves his people to mine the mythical metal Eternium, using it to forge the Crown of Sabbac to attain power and invincibility.

In the present day, Kahndaq is oppressed by the criminal organization Intergang, as Adrianna Tomaz, an archaeologist, tries to locate the Crown of Sabbac with her brother Karim and colleagues Samir and Ishmael.

Feeling unfit 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 Emilia Harcourt places him in stasis.

[27] 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.

[32] Viola Davis and Henry Cavill appear uncredited, reprising their respective DCEU roles as Amanda Waller[33] and Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman.

[48][49] 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,[50] but these plans were abandoned when O'Connor left that film in 2018.

[49] 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.

[13] 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.

[66][67] Principal photography began on April 10, 2021, at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia,[68][69] with Lawrence Sher serving as cinematographer after previously shooting DC's Joker (2019).

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.

[83] 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.

[106][107] Writing for IGN, Rosie Knight also felt that it showed Adam's "tragic" backstory, speculating that it could take inspiration from the New 52 iteration of the character, and that it would determine his future actions.

[109] Charles Pulliam-More from The Verge felt the footage depicted Adam as a villain rather than an antihero, noting how the Justice Society of America (JSA) "seem much more keen on stopping him than trying to recruit him to their ranks.

[112] DC Comics published a series of one-shots focusing on each member of the JSA, titled Black Adam – The Justice Society Files, beginning on July 5 and concluding on October 4.

[6] In the U.S. and Canada, Black Adam was released alongside Ticket to Paradise and The Banshees of Inisherin, and was projected to earn $58–68 million from 4,402 theaters in its opening weekend.

The website's critics' consensus reads: "Black Adam may end up pointing the way to an exciting future for DC films, but as a standalone experience, it's a wildly uneven letdown.

"[153] Writing for Consequence, Liz Shannon Miller gave the film a B grade and said: "On its own merits, Black Adam might feel a little thin in terms of story, but it does deliver plenty of enjoyable moments and a solid ensemble to back up Johnson.

"[154] Helen O'Hara of Empire rated it 3 out of 5 and wrote that the film attempts "to offer a grand unified theory of DC, mixing family-film tropes with a protagonist who straight-up murders people.

"[155] Todd McCarthy of Deadline Hollywood praised Johnson's performance and the action scenes, writing: "The visual spectacle just keeps coming at you for two hours, and the effects are all so stupendous that you could begin to take it for granted.

Practically every shot features something epic or at least unusual going on and director Jaume Collet-Serra, who guided Johnson's [2021] hit Jungle Cruise, takes good care to present the star in the most favorable dramatic light.

"[156] Maya Phillips of The New York Times was more critical in her review, calling the film "a dull, listless superhero movie that hits all the expected touchstones of the genre under the guise of a transgressive new antihero story.

"[157] Rachel LaBonte of Screen Rant gave the film a 2.5 out of 5 and wrote, "Though suffering from repetitive plot beats and thin characters, Black Adam is powered by Johnson's performance and its promise of an exciting future.

"[158] TheWrap's Alonso Duralde called the film a "muddled, overstuffed origin story" and wrote: "Most disappointing of all, Black Adam is one of the most visually confounding of the major-studio superhero sagas, between CG that's assaultively unappealing and rapid-fire editing that sucks the exhilaration right out of every fight scene.

[177] Producers Hiram Garcia and Beau Flynn later confirmed to ComicBook.com that a sequel was planned and that it was intended to be fast-tracked into production, serving as a buildup to the duel between Superman and Black Adam.

[178] Cavill himself confirmed his resumed involvement in the DCEU as a whole on October 24, stating that his mid-credits cameo appearance in Black Adam was "just a very small taste of things to come".

[179] In December, producer and financier Joe Singer told Deadline Hollywood that he believed the film would turn a profit through PVOD and home media sales, furthermore stating that Warner Bros.

[117] Later that month, Cavill announced that he would no longer play Superman, as DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn intended to reboot the character in the future.