Black Adam is finally out in theaters and the hierarchy of power has changed. Black Adam has become the strongest person on the planet in the DC universe, and now Dwayne Johnson's film is the fastest in terms of bringing in money at the box office. Black Adam has finally reached the $250 million benchmark which is an amazing feat for the DC film.
Black Adam is a supervillain and sometimes anti-hero of the DC universe. Often times the antagonist of Shazam, the character is also an ally at times. Johnson has long teased a fight between his character and DC's Man of Steel, Superman. Now that Henry Cavill is officially back as Superman and in talks for future movies, anything is possible for the DC universe.
With no release set for China, Black Adam is set to reach a worldwide total of anywhere from $370 million to $420 million, per Deadline. To paint the picture, that's in the same ballpark as Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings ($432.2 million) but a little far from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (955.7 million). Like Shang-Chi, Black Adam is a relatively unknown character, so once he gets a sequel the numbers will likely be higher. Also, Johnson is heavily involved and reactive to the fans' posts, so fan engagement could bring in more tickets.
The film is nowhere near a flop and despite what critics say, Black Adam is doing very well with fans and even made more than DC's Shazam! ($366 million). Shazam! is also set to release a sequel, so it's very likely fans will either get another Black Adam film or a film that heavily features the character in it. Plus, Johnson is reportedly pushing hard for a Black Adam vs Superman film, so fans likely haven't seen the last of the DC anti-hero.
Black Adam introduced a group of new heroes to the world of DC and the power scaling has definitely been shifted. Hopefully, most of these characters return for a future film, and it would also be nice for DC to continue to use more obscure characters in order to highlight their large gallery of superheroes. Typically Superman and Batman populate DC stories, while Marvel Studios is known for utilizing more of its roster. This is DC's chance to use more characters and bring recognition to them. The Guardians of the Galaxy were barely known until their first movie, DC can very well do the same and Black Adam proves it.
Black Adam is currently in theaters.
Source: Deadline