It’s been six years since Dwayne Johnson was announced as the mountain of muscle to fill the suit of Black Adam. Filming for the movie was supposed to begin in the summer, but has been delayed until next year due to you know what. To tide us over, though, a fan trailer has now imagined the villain-turned-antihero taking on Superman in a potential Man of Steel 2.
The teaser suggests that the sequel would see the man once known as Teth assume the role of villain and battle Kal-El in a citywide punch-up of apocalyptic devastation, but since there’s no footage of the movie that currently exists, never mind publicly available to repurpose, the trailer instead incorporates shots primarily taken from Man of Steel and Justice League, superimposing Johnson’s face over Henry Cavill and covering the distinctive blue and red suit with a jet-black costume lit only by the bright and glowing yellow of a familiar lightning bolt.
Meanwhile, the voiceover is mostly taken from animated short Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, where the aging wizard Shazam was voiced by legendary actor James Garner in his final role. Here, his speech has been modulated into a passable imitation of Morgan Freeman, who’s a popular choice to portray the character, while shots of him in period garb from the dire 2016 version of Ben-Hur add to the audio illusion.
With the prospect of Man of Steel 2 a bit up in the air, so to speak, the further adventures of Superman remain shrouded in mystery, so anything can be imagined regarding how they might go forward. Meanwhile, when Black Adam makes his DCEU debut, the angry malevolence shrouded in crackling lightning seen here won’t be a million miles away from where he’ll ultimately end up.
