UPPING THE ANTIHERO

Dwayne Johnson’s journey to bring the ultimate comic-book badass to the big screen has been a long time coming, and as he and his collaborators tell Total Film, BLACK ADAM is just the start of a whole new era in the DCEU…

- MATT MAYTUM

Dwayne Johnson is Black Adam’ asserts the black-on-white lettering on the cinema marquee at the Warner Bros lot in Burbank, California. While this is fairly standard marketing speak, there is an argument to be made in this case that the star and hero (well, antihero, but we’ll get to that) are pretty much indivisible. This DC adaptation has been a passion project for Johnson for years, and his tenacity, commitment, and superhuman bulk have brought it to life, finally.

It’s June 2022, and Total Film is on the WB lot to catch up with Johnson and the Black Adam filmmaking team at the launch of the first trailer. After a double-bill of that teaser on the big screen, TF is granted a private audience with the main man. Johnson - who dubs the character #TheManInBlack on social – is appropriately attired today: black knitted polo, black trousers, black shoes (no socks). On his left sleeve, stretched around tree-trunk biceps, are two embroidered lightning bolts, barely visible, black on black. It’s a subtle reference to a character who has long lived with him.

“Twenty-plus years, I would say,” guesses Johnson when