It'd be the showdown of the century — but could the Mighty Adam really take on the Man of Steel?
Dwayne Johnson faced an eight-year struggle to bring Black Adam to the big screen.
Now, Johnson's patience and dedication has paid off.
In its first four days at the box office, Black Adam brought in $67 million domestically,
becoming the best opening-weekend performance of any movie with Johnson in the lead role.
Notably, the character Johnson portrays, Black Adam, is one of the most powerful in DC Comics.
Of course, the biggest buzz behind Black Adam is Superman's brief cameo at the very end
of the movie.
It's a match made in heaven — in the comic books, both characters possess superhuman
strength, speed, hearing, healing, and stamina.
But the movie's tease of a showdown between Supes and Mighty Adam has got fans wondering:
who will ultimately win when these two juggernauts come to blows in the DCEU?
"There's no one on this planet that can stop me."
One critical difference between Superman and Black Adam in the comics is that Adam can
discharge lightning bolts as projectiles while engaging his enemies in battle.
It might not ever need to come to that, though, because Black Adam has an immediate edge over Kal-El.
The Mighty Adam's most significant, unique advantage over the Last Son of Krypton is
that he is immortal.
Superman seems ageless, but Kal-El does grow older, albeit at a prolonged rate due to the
sun's effect on his Kryptonian cells.
It might take centuries, or even longer, but Clark Kent will eventually succumb to death
from natural causes.
If a brouhaha between these two super beings ever escalated into a fight, theoretically,
Black Adam could just wait it out until Superman keels over from old age.
Since a millennia-long wait does not make for very good storytelling, however, there
must be a more immediate determination of a winner.
For his part, Superman can put up one heck of a fight.
His debut in Action Comics #1 back in 1938 saw Superman able to "leap 1/8th of a mile,"
with skin that could be broken by "nothing less than a bursting shell."
By contrast, the Superman of more recent days has been seen lifting quintillions of tons
single-handed, flying so fast that time moves backward, and punching holes in the fabric
of reality.
Writers have gone back to the "Superman loses his powers" well so many times that it's become
a full-blown trope, mostly because it's hard to write a high-stakes story when your hero
can't be beaten.
And that might just be where Black Adam comes into play.
While everybody knows that Superman is vulnerable to kryptonite, he has another weakness that
people often forget about: magic.
In Superman #14, the Man of Steel was put under a trance by malevolent fish people.
In Superman Vol. 2 #49, a piece of magical Kryptonite strips him of his powers.
In Superman #171, he outright laments that his invulnerability can't protect him from
a sorcerer's spell.
This brings us to Black Adam.
Adam has gone through his own growing pains over the years, but one aspect of his personality
has remained solid: His powers are magical in nature.
"Did he just catch a rocket?"
"He caught a rocket."
They were given to him by the same wizard who turned Billy Batson into the World's Mightiest
Mortal, and they stem from the abilities of ancient gods — sometimes Greek, sometimes
Egyptian, but always very, very powerful.
If Black Adam plans on defeating Superman, he should travel to Smallville, Kansas, where
Kal-El's vessel crash-landed on Earth — and where he may find Green K Kryptonite.
Green K is among the most common and powerful iterations of Kryptonite because it can weaken
and kill the Man of Steel with prolonged exposure.
If the Mighty Adam wants to take out Superman once and for all, though, there's only one
shade of Kryptonite he should bother searching for: Gold Kryptonite.
The most formidable weapon Black Adam, or anyone else for that matter, could ever hope
to wield against Kal-El, Gold Kryptonite will permanently strip Superman of all his powers.
Black Adam will have to get up close and personal to use it, but Gold K is another potential
way to victory.
With all the advantages Black Adam has over the Man of Steel, the simple truth remains:
Superman is stronger.
If it comes down to physical combat, the Mighty Adam will fall.
Even inferior, alternate versions of Superman have bested Black Adam in the comic books.
In Shazam!
Vol. 3 #14, the evil Superboy-Prime easily defeats not only Black Adam but all the Marvels
on his own.
And that was the second time Superboy-Prime bested the Mighty Adam — he also made quick
work of him during the Infinite Crisis crossover event.
Ultraman, Kal-El's alternate, darker half from Earth-3, ended his fisticuffs with Black
Adam by breaking his jaw in Forever Evil #3.
And don't think Superman will have any problem dealing out punishment against his new foe.
Kal-El has abandoned his morality on multiple occasions to do what is necessary to save
the world and those he loves.
An alternate-reality Kal-El slaughtered Wonder Woman in 2004's Superman/Batman: Absolute
Power, and the Man of Steel wiped out the Joker, Black Canary, Green Arrow, and even
Shazam in the far-reaching Injustice saga.
Finally, in Man of Steel, the first official installment of the DCEU's big-screen adventures,
Superman is forced to break General Zod's neck to save a group of civilians.
Bottom line: Superman is not above killing.
Although Dwayne Johnson put in a lot of work to get Henry Cavill back in the game, the
answer to this question is simple: Given the right conditions, Black Adam would best Superman
in a fight.
Funnily enough, however, Johnson doesn't necessarily agree.
In an interview with Jake's Takes, he said:
"We will create Black Adam for him to be the most powerful and unstoppable force on this planet.
The most powerful and unstoppable force in the entire universe has been on the sidelines
for too long."
So what's going to happen when Superman and Black Adam finally get their showdown?
Looks like we'll just have to wait to find out.