Black Adam TRIVIA!!!

Here is my TRIVIA post for Black Adam, where I compiled some interesting little tidbits about the latest movie from DC Comics! FAIR WARNING: A FEW OF THESE TIDBITS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE!!!

• Dwayne Johnson once asked his fans which character he should play, superhero Shazam or supervillain Black Adam. His fans chose Black Adam.

• While Black Adam and Captain Marvel both speak the same name of the wizard Shazam as an acronym to activate their powers, in the case of Captain Marvel the acronym stands for the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. In the case of Black Adam, the acronym stands for the stamina of Shu, the swiftness of Horus, the strength of Amon, the wisdom of Zehuti, the power of Aton, and the courage of Mehen.

• Black Adam was originally going to appear in Shazam! (2019), but it was later decided he would debut in his own film.

• There were plans for Black Adam to appear in The Suicide Squad (2021), but those plans were scrapped when James Gunn took over that movie.

• The film originally received an R rating due to several gruesome death scenes. A majority of these deaths had to be cut before the film could receive the more commercially viable PG-13 rating.

• The eleventh film in the DC Extended Universe.

• One fight scene evokes the Mexican standoff from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), complete with Ennio Morricone's music and similar camera shots.

• This film is largely inspired by Geoff Johns's "Justice Society of America" comic, where Adam is an anti-hero character who joins the Justice Society.

• 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).

• 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 who DC had since rebranded as Shazam; and Black Adam, with Johnson starring as the title antihero.

• 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.

• In October 2022, Johnson confirmed plans for Black Adam to fight Superman in the DCEU, and reaffirmed plans for the character to crossover with Shazam. In a separate interview, Johnson stated that the character will interact with various characters within the DCEU continuity, while there are also options for iterations of characters that exist in their own separate universes (namely The Batman and Joker) to crossover through a multiversal scenario. Furthermore, he stated that Black Adam serves as the first film in Phase One of a new storytelling initiative in the DCEU. Johnson also confirmed that despite the events of the film, Doctor Fate will return in the future of the franchise.

• Producers Hiram Garcia and Beau Flynn later confirmed to ComicBook.com that a sequel was planned and stated that it is intended to be fast-tracked into production soon. Garcia added that it would serve as a buildup to the eventual duel between Superman and Black Adam. 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".