Superhero media has moved in a few big waves. Before superhero franchises became the central pillar of blockbuster cinema, the genre would regularly rise and fall like the tides. A superhero movie likeBlack Adamdoes feel at home in our modern world of cinematic universes, but it also feels a lot like an undiscovered entry from around 1997.
The 90s were something of a no man’s land for superhero media. Most of the big names stayed silent, leaving the oddballs to come out and play. Thedecade started withDarkmanand ended withBlade, establishing a specific tone and presentation that rarely makes an appearance in the modern day.
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Black Adamdepicts the new adventures of a fairly obscure anti-hero. The title character is best known as the antagonistof numerous Shazam comics, but his solo stuff garnered enough attention to warrant a film adaptation. It’s mainly a vehicle for already tremendous movie star Dwayne Johnson, who spends most of the movie trying to sell his character as the new pinnacle of power in the franchise. Adam is portrayed as all-powerful, imperious, carelessly violent, and also comically out of place in the modern world. He slaughters dozens in slow-motion fireworks displays set to music from the 60s, but he also learns a catchphrase from a skateboarding teenager. That mixture of edgy “superhero, but with murder” ultraviolence and the kitschy back and forth with Amon is quintessentially 90s.
The 90s was the era ofSpawn, Darkman, Judge Dredd, Blade, The Mask, The Phantom,andThe Crow. Superheroes were either darkly comedic or comically dark. The ones who didn’t brutally murder their enemies made them into punchlines for tasteless jokes. Despite coming out in 2022, Teth-Adam feels right at home with those aforementioned minor superhero figures. There’s a lot of back and forth about Black Adam’s position as a superhero. His first scene depicts him butchering bad guys, but whether henchmen survive is no longer a solid metric for a comic book icon’s performance. Even paragons of justice like Captain America occasionally kill their unnamed assailants in combat. However, the way the film frames that killing changes. No one ever bugs Steve about his body count, he just takes out his enemies however he sees fit. Adam, on the other hand, kills with wild abandon and catches a lot of backlash for it.His anti-hero status isa topic of conversation throughout the film.
Alongside the violence, the way that action is depicted often feels reminiscent of the 90s. After the release ofThe Matrixin 1999, slow-motion camera tricks became the go-to way to depict a complex action setpiece. Though the Wachowskis' classic cyberpunk epic could only really influence the 2000s, it’s still considered a hallmark of 90s action films. On top of the slow motion, the constant quick-cutting and close-up shots feel evocative of earlier films.Black Adameschews a lot of the editing tricks that have become commonplace inthe Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead, it relies on strange angles, an extremely quick camera, and a lot of long shots of The Rock’s face. Though the special effects are generally solid, it’s surprising to see a film depict Cyclone the way thatBlack Adamdoes. It’s honestly out of place when juxtaposed against the rest of the film. It’s colorful and wild in a way that feels more like a cartoon than a modern superhero film.
The character Teth-Adam is somewhat confused in his portrayal. He’s best known as a villain, but they’re setting him up as the anti-hero. He’s very light on personality. He dishes out threats and insults but has no notable sense of humor. At times, he’s portrayed with the comedic straight-man persona of Drax the Destroyer. Other scenes treat him like a tortured hero who wants to do the right thing. The film indulges in the time-honored trope of an extremely powerful but emotionally-challenged super-being teaming up with a charming kid. It’s straightout ofT2: Judgment DayorThe Iron Giant. Modern superheroes don’t even make use of teen sidekicks, let alone random teenage hangers-on. That format was once fairly common.Black Adamrevives it with its strange 90s pastiche.
A lot of superhero movies do a lot of work to feel like something from another era, butBlack Adamseems to be borrowing the tropes because they fit the character. Where a film likeWonder Woman 1984builds itself off of references and visuals,Black Adamborrows from the past without needing to be so obvious. The 90s were a weird era in superhero cinema, swiftly swept under the rug in the rush ofSam Raimi’sSpider-Mantrilogyand the MCU on the horizon. If it weren’t for all the boring franchise building that still fills up its runtime,Black Adamwould’ve been a breath of fresh air.
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