Black Adam & Hawkman's Relationship In Johnson's DC Movie Explained

Black Adam director Jaume Collet-Serra explains how the movie will handle the titular antihero's comics history with Hawkman. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson transforms into the Man in Black for Collet-Serra's upcoming DCEU feature, which will see the eponymous Kahndaqian warrior resurface in the present day after being wrongfully incarcerated 5000 years ago. Besides Black Adam, the Justice Society of America will also appear in the movie, with Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall/Hawkman, Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate, Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkel/Cyclone, and Noah Centineo as Albert "Al" Rothstein /Atom Smasher.

The JSA is poised to be tough competition for Black Adam as he pursues his vengeful goals, with Hodge's Hawkman acting as Black Adam's moral counterpart and stiffly opposing his unheroic actions. The Black Adam trailer teased some dire tensions between Johnson's character and Hawkman, leaving many curious about how their comics origins are being approached. In the comics, the original Hawkman is Prince Khufu, who lived at the same time as Black Adam. The two shared a close kinship. However, after Hath-Set kills Khufu, he is cursed to reincarnate endlessly through space and time, with Carter Hall being his form in the present day. In the comics, when Black Adam escapes imprisonment, he and Hall recognize each other from Kahndaq. It was not clear if Black Adam will also follow the same story, but now, there is some clarity on the matter.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, Collet-Serra reveals that Black Adam will not get mired in exploring Hawkman's history with Johnson's titular character. This is due to how complex the truth is, and how some viewers might not understand what's going on. Read what Collet-Serra has to say below.

“In the comics, there are clear references of like, ‘Hey, I saw you 5,000 years ago. You remember me?’ We’re not doing that. It would be too confusing. Obviously, Hawkman reincarnates, so how many times do you need to reincarnate and still remember? All these rules [are something] you don’t want to set until those characters are really established.”

It is completely possible for Black Adam to ignore Hawkman's intricate backstory without necessarily changing his origins. This is because every time the superhero reincarnates, he doesn't have the memories of his past life from the get-go. Rather, when Hawkman reaches adulthood, he experiences a defining moment that jogs his memory of his life as Prince Khufu. Therefore, during the events of Black Adam, it's possible that Hawkman would not have had a life-changing moment, and thus, he would have no recollection of meeting Adam in the past. As for Johnson's antihero, even though he has his memories from Kahndaq, he might not necessarily identify Carter as Prince Khufu, considering the character goes through some changes in his appearance every time he is reborn.

While Black Adam may not be able to discern that Carter is indeed Khufu, his Thanagarian mace, warship, and Nth metal wings might catch his attention, piquing his curiosity about how Hawkman obtained those objects and technology from five millenniums ago. The movie could then leverage this intrigue from the antihero to set up a potential Hawkman TV show or movie. Johnson clearly stated that if Black Adam performs well, the JSA superheroes could get solo spinoffs, and Hodge has also expressed interest in navigating Hawkman's backstory and his relationship with Hawkgirl in a separate project. Considering this potential, it's very likely that there will be some buildup in Black Adam for such an opportunity, although how exactly the film approaches the franchise's future will only become clear once the film comes out in theaters.