When does Black Adam take place on the DC timeline? (2024)

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When does Black Adam take place on the DC timeline? ›

The entire story of Black Adam is revealed to be taking place in the modern day, the year 2022 to be more precise. During this time, the Justice League has been formed, and is thus currently active within the universe.

“Black Adam” takes place after the events of “The Suicide Squad,” “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” takes place after “Black Adam” and the multiverse-traversing “The Flash” takes place all over the place — but is chronologically set around the same time as “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.”

Black Adam Is Set After Justice League and The Suicide Squad

So far, most of the major DCU films post-2017, with Wonder Woman 1984 being a notable exception, have firmly taken place after the events of Justice League.

As for a specific year, James Gunn told Screen Rant that The Suicide Squad "takes place in the year it comes out," which is 2021, so we can assume Black Adam is set either in 2021 or 2022. That makes Black Adam the most recent DC movie on the timeline, then.

Black Adam Was Chosen By The Same Council As Shazam

While there were some alternations, this plot point in the movie mirrors the character's origins from the source material. In the classic continuity of DC Comics, Teth-Adam was chosen by the wizard Shazam, who chose Billy Batson to be his champion 5,000 years later.

Black Adam expands the DC Extended Universe, including the Justice Society and James Gunn's characters from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. Billy Batson/Shazam plays a significant role in Black Adam and shares a connection with the protagonist through the source of their powers.

Since DC Comics licensed and acquired Fawcett's characters in the 1970s, Black Adam has endured as one of the archenemies of the superhero Captain Marvel / Shazam and the Marvel Family (a.k.a. Shazam Family), alongside Doctor Sivana and Mister Mind. Textless cover of 52 #45 (March 2007). Art by J. G. Jones.

Black Adam and Shazam both get their powers from the same Council of Wizards, which explains why Teth-Adam says "Shazam!" to power up. Unlike Billy Batson, though, Black Adam draws his powers from the Egyptian gods: Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton, and Mehen.

Shazam acknowledges that he is unsure if he is stronger than Black Adam, despite his confidence in his mortal form. Both Shazam and Black Adam possess the same strengths endowed by the Wizard and have never been able to triumph over each other.

Dwayne did not want Zachary's Shazam to cameo in Black Adam, and pushed to have Henry Cavill's Superman make a cameo instead. Now, Henry will no longer play Superman in the DC Universe and it is highly unlikely that a new film will be commissioned in either film franchise.

What is the DC timeline? ›

The Timeline is a chronological display of the events that happened in the different realities depicted in the DC Extended Universe.

Black Adam's previous encounter with Ultraman, Earth-3's evil Superman, resulted in him retreating from direct combat, further demonstrating that Superman is the clear winner in terms of power.

The two are equally matched in areas like strength, speed, flight, and special abilities. However, Black Adam's powers specifically derive from one of Superman's weaknesses: magic. This could be a major problem for Superman if Black Adam leveraged his magical powers correctly.

Black Adam would probably give Thanos a much harder fight than he's used to. His attacks are stronger and far more aggressive than Thanos's usual foes like the Silver Surfer, Beta Ray Bill or Thor. However it just won't be nearly enough to win. Thanos was able to defeat the Annihilators.

The Dwayne Johnson-led film was released in October 2022 to middling critical reception. The overblown action sequences, lack of a tight script, thin story, and poor character development meant that Black Adam was a disappointment for those excited to see the so-called shift in the hierarchy of the DCEU's power.

After spending a decade in prison, C.C. returns to Philadelphia to find Billy at the Vazquezes' foster home. When he is attacked by Black Adam and the Seven Deadly Sins, Billy shares his Shazam powers with his father, making him the prophesied seventh and final member of the Shazam Family.

Black Adam is one of the DC Universe's more powerful beings, having gone toe-to-toe against the likes of Shazam and Superman many times. But given all the years that have passed since his comics debut, Black Adam's origin story has been retconned several times over.

Black Adam is a 2022 American superhero film based on the DC character of the same name. Produced by New Line Cinema, DC Films, Seven Bucks Productions, and FlynnPictureCo. and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is a spin-off from Shazam! (2019) and the 11th film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).

The Suicide Squad offshoot of the DCEU timeline is surprisingly helpful in placing Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods in the chronology. Cameos for Emilia Harcourt (a US government agent played by Jennifer Holland and introduced in Peacemaker) in both movies places them after Peacemaker.

In bringing back Cavill's Superman for a post-credits scene appearance, Johnson was laying the groundwork for his own DC Universe in which the relationship between Black Adam and Superman would be mapped out across multiple films.