'Black Adam' Reveals the Root Problem in the Superhero Genre
How Can One Emotionally Relate to Invincible Demi-Gods?
So on Saturday afternoon Sally had gone to visit family and I was feeling especially terrible from PTSD symptoms starting the previous night. It seemed an opportune time to watch a brainless movie with my Dad to try and relax. And “Black Adam” had just arrived on HBOMax.
The trailers had some cool moments in them and I like The Rock so we decided to give it a try, knowing the film would likely disappoint some but hopefully be at least a little entertaining for a couple hours.
And it lived up to expectations. “Black Adam” presented a story that did not especially engage the emotions and characters at cardboard cut-out level depth. The movie takes place in a fictional Middle Eastern country called Kahndaq which has endured colonialism and oppression for most of its history, currently being run by a criminal group called “Intergang.” A small group of native Kahndaqis seeks a mythical artifact and in pursuing it they unleash “Teth Adam,” a powerful anti-hero from the “Shazam” mythos who they hope can be their national champion and defender. Soon “the Justice Society of America” is called in to try and contain this potential world-conqueror, several B-level DC superheroes like Hawkman and Dr. Fate show up, and plenty of epic battle scenes ensue.
As a simple action movie experience the film delivers. It’s exciting to watch and has plenty of cool moments. The Rock is certainly badass and fun to watch. But that’s really all there is. This is a disposable, watch-it-once-and-you-never-need-see-it-again popcorn movie that doesn’t really do anything unique or special with superhero conventions. This is about as generic nowadays as it can get.
And while a better Black Adam movie could have certainly been made, it’s hard to figure out how it could have been more emotionally engaging because at root the problem lies in the character where they’ve started. Black Adam is comparable to Superman in his level of power: super strength, ultra-fast flight, nigh-invulnerability, and capable of shooting lightning bolts which can cook humans into dust and bones.
It’s really hard to get emotionally engaged with a character like this because he has almost no vulnerability. He’s not relatable as a human being, he’s more like a pagan god that simply inspires awe. He’s cool to look at and entertaining to watch but we simply do not care about what happens to him. And even if he does “die” somehow, we as the audience know there’s probably some way the film resurrects him.
This is my general problem with superhero comics and most superhero films. Usually the characters are just too darn powerful. I prefer the less god-like heroes who come across their powers through sheer force of will - Batman, Iron Man, or the anti-hero Rorschach. They’re usually much more relatable and their stories have greater drama since they can always die more easily.
I’m not sure that superhero movies can really overcome this problem most of the time today. Both Marvel and DC are seemingly committed to translating as much of their comic book worlds into films. So they’re stuck with the intellectual property they’ve got. In both fictional universes they’re just overwhelmed with godlike characters such as Black Adam.
Perhaps too, admittedly, I’m a part of the problem. Next month I’ll be turning 39. And it’s become more and more apparent to me over the last decade that superhero movies and superhero comics are primarily made for and marketed to teenagers. And most of them just don’t care about deep stories and well-rounded characters. They want excitement, cool special effects, and bold displays of masculine power.
So when I see adult comic book fans whining about some of the new directions the superhero movies are taking - more women and people of color - my response is largely the same:
I guess we were really spoiled by Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. It’s so rare now to see a movie about a guy running around in a cape which manages to take the time to bother with good storytelling fundamentals.
