Dwayne Johnson is willing to kill in first Black Adam trailer

The first trailer for forthcoming comic book movie Black Adam has arrived, and pitches the title character – played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – as a superhero who has no problem killing people.

Created by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck, Black Adam first appeared as a villain in the pages of The Marvel Family way back in December 1945.

He then reappeared in the 1970s, when D.C. Comics acquired the character, and Black Adam was revived to do battle with Shazam.

Very much an antihero, he’s since appeared in the pages of Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis, and Villains United, but never on film, until now…

What happens in the Black Adam movie?

A Black Adam movie has been in the works for years, with Dwayne Johnson developing it alongside the folks at Warner Bros. and DC.

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Johnson’s collaborators also include director Juame Collett-Sera – with whom he recently made Jungle Cruise – and writers Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani.

The official synopsis for the movie is as follows…

Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods – and imprisoned just as quickly – Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.

What happens in the trailer?

The trailer kicks off with Dr. Fate – played by Pierce Brosnan – asking Black Adam “What have your powers ever given to you? Nothing but heartache.”

We then travel back in time to witness Black Adam’s origin story in Ancient Egypt, with the character explaining, “I was a slave until I died, then I was reborn a god.”

We learn that Black Adam’s son sacrificed his own life to save him, which greatly upsets the antihero.

Then, over scenes of bullets bouncing off him, he dramatically states, “Now I kneel for no one.”

Superhero mixed with science-fiction

What follows is the kind of spectacular citywide devastation you expect to see in a big-budget superhero movie, but with some science-fiction thrown in. While Black Adam flies through the sky, he’s chased by hi-tech spacecraft.

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We also get a first glimpse of Aldus Hodge’s Hawkman, when he tells Black Adam: “In this world there are heroes, and there are villains. Heroes don’t kill people.”

Black Adam’s response? “Well I do.”

And that isn’t the only ominous line in the trailer, with Dr. Fate later saying: “You have two choices – you can be the destroyer of this world, or you can be its savior. It’s up to you.”

When can I see Black Adam?

Black Adam hits screens on October 21, just a couple of months before superhero sequel Shazam: Fury of the Gods is released.

With both films presumably taking place in the same shared universe, expect to see some form of crossover occurring, with Black Adam appearing in Shazam’s world, or vice-versa.