Is It Weird That DC’s Biggest Movie Stars Are Villains?

Black Adam, which debuts today, follows a formula that DC has ridden to success in its media adaptations recently. Yes, it’s big and loud and a little bit tongue-in-cheek. It relies on a genuine movie star performance, in this case by Dwayne Johnson, to hold together a ramshackle plot and a random assortment of supporting characters. It taps into DC’s long history and deep bench of obscure characters (Atom Smasher? Cyclone? Even Black Adam himself?), hinting at “cinematic universe” continuity without obsessing about it.

But, most strikingly, like Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, Suicide Squad and Joker on the big screen and Peacemaker and the Harley Quinn animated series on HBO Max, Black Adam puts the spotlight on a protagonist who is, canonically, one of the bad guys.

That’s kind of weird. Marvel has pumped out dozens of movies and TV shows, and only one, the Disney+ streamer Loki, lists a super-villain on the marquee (yes, several others focus on morally-ambiguous protagonists like the Punisher and Scarlet Witch, but they are based on characters presented as heroes in the comics). DC, on the other hand, appears to be making a habit of it.

There are a bunch of reasons for that. Everyone knows the bad guys are more fun. They’re not stuffy or bound by some moral code, so there’s way more you can do with them in terms of plot, sex appeal and random, zany energy. Even movies that focus on the nominal heroes fall apart without a charismatic antagonist.

But this approach is also right on the current zeitgeist. If superheroes are a power fantasy, super villains are a power-and-freedom fantasy. Anti-heroes don’t play by the rules, they don’t answer to anyone, and they don’t have to pay hypocritical lip service to some outdated moral commandments that no one in official power seems to follow anyway. If you believe that at some level, powerful people should get to do as they please – and a lot of people in the US and around the world seem ok with that – then DC’s message that it takes a bad guy to get good things done really resonates.

Black Adam certainly leans into that. The Justice Society, comprising updated versions of some of DC’s oldest characters, represent the hypocrisy of self-appointed busybodies who try to tell everyone else what to do without taking a minute to look in the mirror. Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), who, for the record, is usually characterized as an officious jerk in the comics, comes across as especially arrogant and unsympathetic in the movie, along with his boss, the imperious Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). Can you blame Adam and his fellow Kandaqis like Adriana (Sarah Shahi) for being a bit skeptical of doing things “by the book,” when “the book” is written by out-of-touch elites? However much DC tries to balance the ideological scales with inclusive casting and a strong anti-neocolonial message, Black Adam seethes with the passions animating our political extremes, and punctuates it with nonstop action, mayhem and lots of faceless henchmen getting slaughtered in creative ways by the down-to-business Black Adam.

This completes a brand reversal that DC has been attempting on screen for more than a decade. DC Comics was defined by its iconic heroes – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, etc. – who were created at a time when comics didn’t do shades of gray. To more jaded 21^st century readers, they seem quaint and old fashioned. It was left to Marvel to bring us superheroes with personal problems, like Spider-Man, or morally ambiguous anti-heroes.

But when it comes to the big screen, the companies have flipped the script. Marvel’s characters may be nuanced, but the Disneyfide MCU has a pretty clear moral compass. DC, on the other hand, has been riding its villains all the way to the bank.