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With his long-awaited cinematic debut set to come in July of 2022, Black Adam is one of the most talked-about DC characters in the world right now. With Hollywood star Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson set to play the role, the Black Adam movie is garnering a lot of attention from comic book fans and fans of the blockbuster star himself. As a villain, anti-hero, and occasional superhero, Black Adam, aka Teth-Adam, is one of the most complex villains DC offers.
With a compelling origin story and numerous great fights with prominent DC characters like Shazam and the JSA, Black Adam has a diverse range of great books to read. Whether it’s his origin with Fawcett Comics or his New 52 origin with DC, Black Adam has one of the most compelling personal arcs in comics.
10 Black Adam’s Original Origin With Fawcett Comics
Making his comic debut in Marvel Family #1 in 1945, Black Adam, like Shazam and the rest of the Marvel family, were initially properties of Fawcett Comics – a small comic company that DC later bought out. In this iconic story, the wizard Shazam tells the Marvel Family the tale of his earliest champion, who became corrupted by the power bestowed upon him. The wizard tells them how 8,000 years ago, he gave his powers to an Egyptian man named Teth-Adam. The wizard then informs the Marvel Family that Black Adam still lives today and must be defeated.
9 Black Adam’s Modern Origin
In the New 52 era of DC comics, Black Adam received much attention after his origin got retconned in Shazam #1. In this story, readers were told about two enslaved people: a boy and his uncle. One day, the two are magically transported to the lair of the wizard Shazam. In his lair, the two are given the powers of the wizard Shazam, who hopes they’ll use their new powers to free themselves and their fellow enslaved people.
After a moral debate, the boy and his uncle realize they have two different definitions of freeing themselves; the boy wishes to free themselves and move on peacefully while his uncle wishes to kill their oppressors in revenge. At this point, realizing he’ll only be in the way, the uncle killed the boy and took his portion of the powers for himself, officially becoming Black Adam.
8 The Power Of Shazam!
For the 3rd time in the character’s history, Shazam, aka Billy Batson, received a reworking of his origin in the 1994 book The Power Of Shazam!. In this retelling of Batson’s origin, Billy’s parents work as archeologists in Egypt alongside their colleague, Theo Adam, who later murders the two after discovering the treasure they sought. After his parents are murdered and his sister is kidnapped, Billy, who stayed behind in Fawcett City, meets a strange man in dark clothes near a subway tunnel. After leading Billy into a strange temple-like room, the man reveals himself to be the wizard, Shazam. The wizard then bestows his powers upon Billy, who becomes Captain Marvel and uses his powers to stop Theo Adam.
7 Black Adam Met His Wife Isis In 52
In 2006, at the end of Infinite Crisis, DC started a weekly comic series called 52, which for 52 issues told the tales of different characters around the DC universe the year after the crisis. As one of the many recurring characters in the series, Black Adam underwent many significant character developments, including meeting his wife, Isis, who was a former victim of slavery.
In issue 12 of 52, after initially planning a large-scale war against the United States, Isis shows Adam how he can instead use peaceful methods to aid the people of his country, Khandaq. At their wedding, the two are rescued by the Question from an attempted assassination, making Black Adam realize that some heroes are honorable people.
6 World War III
Just before she died from being infected with a disease from the Horseman Pestilence, Isis told Adam that she was wrong to try and change him into a peaceful man, telling him to avenge her death. In 52 #44, after tracking Isis’ killers to the city of Bialya, Black Adam storms the presidential palace and kills the country’s president before beginning a massive rampage and slaughter through the streets of Bialya. In a fight with Isis’ killer, Black Adam beat him nearly to death but intentionally kept him alive, telling him he would torture him for the rest of the night. Black Adam’s slaughter of Bialya lasted a full two days.
5 Black Adam: The Dark Age
Black Adam: The Dark Age tells a powerful story in the life of Black Adam: the resurrection of his wife, Adrianna Tomaz (aka Isis). In this intense storyline, after having one of his loyal followers beat his face beyond recognition, Black Adam walks the streets of Greece as he looks to cross the border into Kahndaq, his home country. Once in Kahndaq, after evading the JSA thanks to his unrecognizable face, Black Adam storms the tomb of Isis, taking her remains into his possession.
After weeks, Black Adam finishes a long journey to the Lazarus Pit. At the pit, he dumps Isis’ remains into the liquid and, seconds later, she rises from the Lazarus, alive once again.
4 JSA: Savage Times
JSA: Savage Times is a seven-issue story arc in JSA Vol 1 #39-45. During this famous arc, fans got to see Black Adam become an official member of one of DC’s greatest superhero teams: the Justice Society of America. In this story arc, Black Adam faced off against villains like Black Barax and Vandal Savage alongside the JSA. In JSA #41, DC gave Shazam fans a treat they had hoped to see for a long time: Captain Marvel and his nemesis Black Adam fighting together side by side. In issue 45 of this arc, after the JSA is embarrassed by the Kobra cult, Black Adam quits the JSA after refusing to be made into a fool.
3 JSA: Black Reign
JSA: Black Reign is a three-issue arc that took place between JSA Vol 1 #56 and #58. In this storyline, Black Adam forms a team of heroes called the Black Reign to overthrow the military dictatorship of Asim Muhunnad. Later in the storyline, after disagreements grow on how to proceed after liberating Kahndaq, Black Reign faces off with members of the JSA as the two teams try to seize control of Kahndaq.
This arc will soon get a re-release in trade paperback format on June 21st, 2022, a month before the Black Adam movie hits theaters.
2 JSA: Black Vengeance
JSA: Black Vengeance – another iconic JSA storyline that features Black Adam – took place between JSA Vol 1 #73-#75. In this epic storyline, the Spectre rampages through Kahndaq’s capital city, Shiruta, and turns a pack of loyal Black Adam followers into stone in the process. Black Adam attempts to stop the Spectre, spearing the Spectre in the midsection, but the Spectre drains Black Adam of his powers, turning him back to an ordinary man. Shortly after being saved by Atom-Smasher, Black Adam regains his powers and turns on the JSA, telling them that the people of Kahndaq do not want their help.
1 Infinite Crisis: Villains United
In the countdown to Infinite Crisis, one of DC’s most significant comic events ever, Lex Luthor formed a team of 200 hundred villains to take on the world’s superheroes. As one of the six founding members of the group, Black Adam was one of the highest-ranking villains in the army and was entitled to participate in the army’s decision-making. In this storyline, Lex and Adam’s team of super villains, also known as the Secret Societ of Supervillains, faced off against the Secret Six, another supervillain group hoping to usurp power led by the Mockingbird.
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