BLACK ADAM

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film opens in the land of Kahndaq in 2600 BC. While the land thrived for centuries, things changed when the tyrannical King Ahk-Ton took over and enslaved his people to mine a powerful material called Eternium. Ahk-Ton created the Crown of Sabbac in the hopes of achieving the power of a monstrous demon.

An elder man finds Eternium and is hounded for it by other slaves in hopes of being rewarded by the king. A boy (Jalon Christian) helps the man get free and delivers the Eternium to one of the king’s soldiers. Instead of a reward, the elder man is stabbed and thrown off a cliff. The boy’s father pulls him away and urges him not to try and be a hero. The boy then grabs the Eternium from the soldier and runs off with it but is eventually caught and sentenced to death. When he is about to be executed, his body vanishes as he appears before the Council of Wizards, who choose the boy as their champion and give him the powers of Shazam. However, the legend states that the champion confronted Ahk-Ton and destroyed him and his palace before vanishing forever.

In the present day, Kahndaq has fallen under the rule of a mercenary team called Intergang. They are currently looking for a fugitive named Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi), but she passes through a security checkpoint with her brother Karim (Mohammed Amer), plus companions Samir (James Cusati-Moyer) and Ishmael Gregor (Marwan Kenzari). The team arrives at a cave where Adrianna hopes to find the Crown of Sabbac for research purposes. While Karim is waiting in the van, Samir’s body falls off a cliff. Intergang mercs show up and hold the other three at gunpoint after Adrianna manages to acquire the Crown. The lead merc holds a gun to her head and forces her to give up the Crown, but Adrianna begins to read the inscription in the cave, awakening Kahndaq’s supposed champion, Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson). The mercs try to attack Adam but are swiftly torn apart one by one. The cave begins to collapse with Ishmael supposedly perishing. Adrianna escapes with Karim, but they are found by Adam, who proceeds to slaughter more mercs in choppers and tanks. As he approaches their van, a rocket made of Eternium is fired at Adam, wounding him when it explodes. He tries to fly away but falls and is taken in by Adrianna.

Ishmael turns out to be alive, as he is leading Intergang and wanted to get the Crown for himself. He tells the other agents to locate Adrianna.

Meanwhile, superhero Carter Hall/Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) speaks to Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) about Adam’s awakening and the chaos he left behind. She enlists him to gather his team, the Justice Society of America – Maxine Hunkel/Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), who can control wind and sound; Al Rothstein/Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), who has a suit that can make him grow, which he inherited from his uncle (Henry Winkler), and Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), who wears a helmet that chose him and gives him powers of sorcery. They fly off to Kahndaq to bring Adam to Waller. While touching the helmet, Fate sees a vision of destruction and what appears to be Hawkman being killed.

Adam wakes up in the bedroom of Adrianna’s son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui), who is obsessed with superheroes and is excited to meet the champion of Kahndaq. Adam walks through the wall and formally meets Adrianna and Karim, who explains how the citizens see him as a hero and protector, although Adam says he is no hero.

Adam flies into the city and sees a statue of the champion. Amon gets some Intergang mercs to follow him to get Adam’s attention. It works, and Adam begins to lay into the mercs, which in turn gets the attention of the Justice Society. Hawkman and Fate exit their jet to save two mercs that Adam dropped before they go after him. Adam battles the two before Cyclone and Smasher enter the picture. Despite their efforts, Adrianna confronts the Justice Society and tells them that none of them bothered to help Kahndaq the whole time that Intergang was taking over, and Adam is the first person to give the mercs what they deserve, but Hawkman doesn’t think they need to be killed to be brought to justice.

Adrianna finds Adam and speaks to him over what she has learned from the Justice Society regarding Adam’s true story. Adam’s confrontation with Ahk-Ton was said to be out of revenge, and when he unleashed his power to kill the king, it went out of control and destroyed not only Ahk-Ton and his forces, but a large part of Kahndaq. The Wizards then imprisoned Adam in the cave where Adrianna found him. The Justice Society show up in an attempt to bring Adam in, but he flies away after Adrianna asks him to protect Amon.

Ishmael gets to Adrianna’s apartment and aims his gun at Amon and Karim since he knows they have the Crown. Karim fights Ishmael long enough for Amon to try and get away, but Karim is shot. The Intergang mercs go after Amon until Adam shows up to deliver another beatdown. Ishmael grabs Amon and flies away on a hoverbike. Adam goes after them, along with the Justice Society. Unfortunately, Ishmael escapes.

Everyone regroups at the apartment, where Fate has tended to Karim’s wound. Fate also tells Adrianna not to blame herself for Intergang killing her husband. The team gathers two mercs in an attempt to interrogate them for information, but Adam tries to threaten them for info. One of them says that Ishmael is headed to a mine. Adam and Hawkman get into a fight after disagreeing over their methods of handling business, trashing their way through the apartment until they find the Crown hidden in Amon’s room.

On their way to the mine, Adrianna and Cyclone try to decipher the writing on the Crown. Adrianna originally interpreted it as “Life is the only path to death”, but it turns out that she was reading it upside down and that the phrase is “Death is the only path to life”. Kent then tells Carter about his vision, but expresses hope that there is a way to change his future.

Upon arriving at the mine, Adam proceeds to mow down more mercs before they find Ishmael and Amon, the former having been counting on Adam showing up with the Crown. Adrianna is forced to give it up for Amon’s life, but Ishmael attempts to shoot the boy anyway before donning the Crown. Adam manages to fly fast enough to catch the bullet, but his powers explode, frying Ishmael to a crisp, but Hawkman protects Adrianna with his wings, Fate shields Amon, and Smasher saves Cyclone from the blast.

After seeing the extent of his destruction and causing Amon to be wounded, Adam tries to fly away. He is found by Hawkman and forced to divulge his backstory after Ishmael had mentioned the name Hurut. Adam explains that Hurut was the one chosen to be the Wizards’ champion, but after his parents were attacked by Ahk-Ton’s assassins, with Adam’s wife being killed, Hurut gave Adam his powers to save his life. Sadly, the assassins hit Hurut with an arrow, causing Adam to become enraged and go after Ahk-Ton with no mercy. Realizing he brings more devastation than protection, Adam says “Shazam” and gives up his powers, willingly allowing the Justice Society to bring him in.

Adam is brought in by Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) while the Justice Society tends to Amon and prepares to bring him and Adrianna home. However, Ishmael is in Hell and is found by the demons that name him as their champion and turn him into Sabbac. He emerges as a large red-horned demon and proceeds to rise an army from Hell to terrorize Kahndaq. The Justice Society tries to fight but is easily outmatched. Amon rounds up the citizens to fight back with him, plus Adrianna and Karim, while the superheroes arrive at the ruins of Ahk-Ton’s palace. Fate shields Hawkman, Cyclone, and Smasher from entering, as he realizes this is how he can save Hawkman from dying.

Fate battles Sabbac but uses his powers to contact Adam and get him to wake up and emerge from his pod. He tries to swim out but falls unconscious. Adam sees a vision of his wife and Hurut greeting him, as he believes he is ready to rejoin them. Hurut then tells Adam that it is not his time. Adam manages to make it to the surface and says “Shazam” to get his powers back. He flies back to Kahndaq, where he sees Sabbac kill Fate. Hawkman, Cyclone, and Smasher make their way in to fight. Sabbac appears to impale Hawkman as he died in Fate’s vision, but he has used Fate’s helmet to create illusions of himself to trick Sabbac. With Hawkman’s approval, Adam taps into his killer instincts to fight Sabbac, ending with him grabbing the villain by his horns and splitting him in two, which also causes the undead to be wiped out.

Adam parts ways with the Justice Society, while the people of Kahndaq chant “Long live the champion!” Adam chooses to destroy Ahk-Ton’s throne, vowing to be the protector of Kahndaq. He also tells Adriana that “Teth-Adam” is too old-fashioned, and that he will now be known as…BLACK ADAM.

Mid-Credits Scene: Adam is found by a drone sent by Waller. She tells him to stay in line, or she will send forces after him. Adam challenges her to do so, and then blows up the drone. From the smoke, a figure descends from the sky. He approaches Adam and tells him they need to talk. He steps out from the smoke, revealing none other than the Last Son of Krypton…SUPERMAN (Henry Cavill)!

The land of Kahndaq is overrun by the mercenary group Intergang. Archaeologist Adrianna Tomaz finds the Crown of Sabbac, which Intergang pursues, and she awakens the alleged champion of Kahndaq, Teth-Adam. Knowing of Adam's destructive history, the Justice Society of America (Doctor Fate, Hawkman, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher) head out to bring Adam to Amanda Waller. Adam proves to be powerful and has no qualms with killing anybody that stands in his way, but he forms a bond with Adrianna and her son Amon.

Intergang's leader Ishmael Gregor kidnaps Amon and forces Adam and the others to bring him the Crown. Although Adam kills Ishmael, he sees that his powers are out of control as they were when he killed the corrupt King Ahk-Ton, which led the Wizards to imprison him. Adam explains to Hawkman that it was his son Hurut that was granted the powers of Shazam and was the true champion, but he gave his father his powers to save him after assassins killed Adam's wife, and they killed Hurut as well, leading to Adam's revenge. He willingly gives up his powers and surrenders.

Ishmael is resurrected as Sabbac and begins to terrorize Kahndaq. The Justice Society and the citizens fight back, with Fate summoning Adam to fight back before Sabbac kills him. The surviving Justice Society members help Adam as he uses his powers to tear Sabbac in two and save the city. He vows to be their antiheroic protector.

Waller contacts Adam and urges him to stay in line, or she will send others after him. When he challenges her, he is met by Superman.