At the ending of Black Adam, the movie takes a very MCU-like turn, adding post credit scene that expands the larger DCEU by setting up the titular character as a force that many will have to stand against.
***Spoilers ahead for the ending of Black Adam***
At the end of Black Adam, the titular character (played by Dwayne Johnson) decides that he will remain as the guardian of Kahndaq as less than a noble hero, but more than a powerful villain consume by rage. He’s a symbol of the new independence that his nation will have, and a champion to protect it. However, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who sent the Justice Society of America after him in the first place, is not willing to let this happen without a little bit of threat. She sends a message to Black Adam, telling him that now Kahndaq is his cell. If he leaves he will feel the force of all of her might against him. Of course Black Adam, having molly whopped everybody for the entire movie, is like—who’s going to stand up against me no one on this Earth? No one has the power. But then Amanda Waller says well, I got friends everywhere. Enter Henry Cavill’s Superman.
The big news that has come out of this end credit scene that even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has spoiled is that Henry Cavill will be returning to the DC extended universe as Superman. And as the character appears in a bright blue costume he tells Black Adam that they need to talk and complements Adam on being the next biggest threat since himself. What’s got me interested is this idea that Superman is now in league with Amanda Waller. She’s someone who smiled at his death memorial and wanted to create a squad of villains to be a contingency plan against him. How did that alliance happen?
The last time viewers have seen Superman in this universe was in one of the two incarnations of Justice League, where he was resurrected after his death in Batman v Superman, and then helped defeat the forces of Steppenwolf and the New Gods. We also got a small cameo from the neck down of Superman in Shazam and that’s really been it thus far. This Black Adam end credit scene establishes not only that Superman has made a full return as a hero, but is currently working with the United States government in some way—otherwise Amanda Waller would probably not be in the picture. It’s an interesting step towards whatever this new DCEU vision is. But as usual, we are left with more questions than answers about what the hell is going.
Johnson has spoken about wanting to have a showdown between Black Adam and Superman, which on a certain level doesn’t really make sense because the characters are not usually in conflict and Black Adam’s actual true rival is Shazam. But we will see what comes to pass in the future—after all, currently Black Adam has a mixed score from critics. Until the box office drops, we have no idea if it will be something that will have legs in the larger universe or just another super-sized passion project that fizzles out.
(image: Warner Bros)
