Black Adam is a character known for his aggression and violent nature in the comics, so it’s no surprise to hear that Dwayne Johnson's film was originally Rated R. According to producers Hiram Garcia and Beau Flynn, it took a fair bit of working with the MPAA in order to get the final cut of the film down to a PG-13.
Black Adam tells the story of Teth-Adam (Johnson), an antihero from the ancient Egyptian city of Kahndaq. Imprisoned for five thousand years thanks to his brutality, the Justice Society of America must reform his ways in the modern day and team up with him to stop an even greater threat. Black Adam is closely associated with Shazam in the comics, being a previous incarnation of the superhero who eventually turned to supervillainy. Since the turn of the century, however, he has been depicted as more of an antihero, which is how the film will portray him.
In an interview with Collider, Garcia and Flynn explained what it took for the film to be adjusted for the PG-13 rating. “We really wanted to make sure that we honored the character of Black Adam,” Garcia says. “One of the things he's known for is his aggression and violence, and to do a Black Adam movie that didn't have that just wouldn’t have been authentic. So we always went into this knowing that we were going to push it as far as we did. We knew it was going to be a collaborative process with the MPAA to finally get it to where we were able, to get that rating, but we were able to pull it off. But it was really important for us to do that. And that's something Dwayne was very committed to as well.” The collaborative process reportedly took four rounds of back and forth with the MPAA, and the film only succeeded in earning its desired rating about four or five weeks ago, but Flynn notes that “It was an obligation that we had to the fans.”
“We did have to make a lot of edits, actually. There are some personal moments that we really love, but we had to let them go. But we never compromised, we never had to cut a scene. We had some really cool moments, and if you notice, there are some great moments when Black Adam is in the fly bike chase sequence and drops one of the intergang soldiers. Then there's this great moment where the truck bounces over the body," Flynn replied when asked what was lost to the edits. "But those are moments that you need and remember in these movies, you know what I mean? You can't play it safe, and you have to go for it. And I think we have four or five of those. At one point we had about ten, and we were able to find some compromise with the MPAA on that.” The duo further hinted that these may still see the light of day, with the possibility of an unedited version being released down the line. Flynn also acknowledged the need for Black Adam to be a box office success, which would allow the production crew some ability to push for more ambitious sequels, which they are already thinking of.
Considering Black Adam is one of the more vicious characters in DC's roster, it’s no surprise that the character’s brutality almost pushed up the film’s target rating. In his first appearance in “The Marvel Family # 1,” first published in 1945, Black Adam is depicted as dispatching an Egyptian Pharaoh by breaking his neck and taking over the kingdom. In a separate origin story, Adam kills his own young nephew to gain his powers (the two were sharing the abilities and had just escaped enslavement with them).
Johnson and the rest of the Black Adam crew have spoken extensively about their desire to present a different kind of hero to the world. With a Black Adam vs. Superman film possibly on the way, Black Adam's violent methods are sure to put him on the bad side of the Man of Steel. If Henry Cavill does return as Superman, it’s been firmly established that his version of the character no longer tolerates killing after being forced to kill General Zod, which could be the impetus for Black Adam and Superman's battle.
Black Adam hits theaters on October 21, 2022.
Source: Collider