The Power of Shazam!: revised origin ,
Shazam, and Black Adam, on the cover of
The Power of Shazam! #10 (1995). Art by
Jerry Ordway Black Adam is reintroduced to the DC Universe in
The Power of Shazam! graphic novel by
Jerry Ordway in 1994 (an earlier Post-Crisis version of the character appeared in
Shazam!: The New Beginning but this appearance is not considered canonical). In that story and the subsequent
Power of Shazam! ongoing series, Adam is a deadly and evil adversary for Captain Marvel. In this revised origin, Teth-Adam was born on September 11, 1279, BC as a son of the
ancient Egyptian
Pharaoh Ramesses II. Teth-Adam impresses one of the high priests, the wizard
Shazam, with his good deeds. The young man is chosen to become the hero "Mighty Adam" by speaking the name "Shazam", an acronym for the gods who give him power: the stamina of
Shu, the swiftness of Heru (
Horus), the strength of
Amon, the wisdom of Zehuti (
Thoth), the power of
Aton, and the courage of
Mehen. He does not draw powers from Shazam due to the demoness
Blaze making a deal with the Egyptian god
Set. The Mighty Adam serves as Egypt's champion for many centuries until he falls under the influence of Blaze. The bewitched Adam storms the palace of the pharaoh, murdering him and his entire court, and declares himself ruler. The wizard learns of this and strips Adam of his powers, encasing them in a mystical scarab necklace. Adam's depowered body rapidly experiences the aging process that the magic had staved off, and the former hero withers away into a dried cadaver in seconds. Shazam buries both the body and the scarab in Ramesses' tomb, where he plans for it to remain for all eternity. In death, the former hero is referred to as "
Khem-Adam" ("Black Adam"). Disillusioned by what he perceived as Adam's betrayal, Shazam waits several millennia before appointing a second champion to fight evil in his name. During the late 20th century, an unscrupulous archaeological aide named
Theo Adam is assigned to the Malcolm Expedition, financed by the Sivana Foundation to excavate the tomb of Ramesses II. Adam uncovers Khem-Adam's tomb in a secret passageway, and leads his superiors, C.C. Batson and his wife Marilyn, to the discovery. Upon first sight of Khem-Adam's scarab, Theo Adam becomes obsessed with the artifact and kills both Batsons to steal it. Escaping
Egypt, Theo Adam soon made his way back to America. The Batsons' son, Billy, has been left behind in the
United States, and is drafted by Shazam to become the wizard's second champion, Captain Marvel. When Theo Adam first encounters Captain Marvel, he notes both Marvel's identical appearance to C.C. Batson and the lightning-bolt insignia on Marvel's chest that had also decorated Khem-Adam's tomb. Adam therefore has a revelation and realizes that he is a reincarnation of Khem-Adam. Grasping his stolen scarab, Adam speaks Shazam's name and is transformed into the super-powered Black Adam. In Week 12 of the series, Adam gains a magical amulet, hidden on the scarab in which Shazam imprisoned him. With help from Captain Marvel, who first thinks Adam is trying to attack him, he transforms Adrianna into the superheroine
Isis. Four weeks later, in Week 16, he proposes with a jewel given to Cleopatra by Caesar, and the two are married, with Captain Marvel and the rest of the Marvel Family as witnesses, Mary as bridesmaid.
Renee Montoya and the
Question prevent a suicide bomber, a child sent by Intergang, from ruining the wedding. For this they are awarded the country's highest honor, the Order of the Scarab, by Black Adam, although he is furious to find Montoya is missing the ceremony while sleeping with a Kahndaqi woman from sorrow over killing a child. In
52 Week 23, Black Adam and Isis, with the assistance of the Question and Montoya, find Isis's brother Amon, who has been injured and rendered
paraplegic due to a failed escape attempt. To save his life, Adam bestows a portion of his own power on the boy, as Captain Marvel did for
Captain Marvel Jr. Isis's brother then becomes a new addition to the Black Marvel Family under the name
Osiris. They help the Marvels beat the demonic Sabbac using their lightning strike on Halloween when he tries to sacrifice children to the demon
Neron while several stories high. He is then moved to an unknown location. The Black Marvel Family also has a charity dinner with Venus Sivana, during which Osiris first meets a talking crocodile (whom Osiris names Sobek). Osiris is accepted into the
Teen Titans. Upon returning from a mission, he and the rest of the Black Marvel Family are attacked by the
Suicide Squad. The Black Marvels defeat the Squad, but not before footage of them in battle (including Osiris's accidental killing of a Squad member who was attacking Isis) is captured by
Amanda Waller, who uses it to further ruin the Black Marvel Family's reputation. Meanwhile, Kahndaq is struck by a number of natural disasters, which seem to have a supernatural origin. He engages in more beneficial activities, like a charity dinner with the Sivanas. Wracked with guilt over the death of the
Persuader, Osiris ventures to the Rock of Eternity and pleads with Captain Marvel to have his powers removed, as he fears Black Adam's influence (and those of his gods) has tainted him with evil. Adam arrives and the two battle until subdued by Isis and the Marvels. Osiris relents, seemingly accepting that he has repented enough for the Persuader's death, and accompanies the Black Marvel Family back home. When Osiris and Sobek are alone, Osiris admits that he was only putting up a front to appease those around him and that he could never forgive himself for killing anyone, as Black Adam has. Sobek advises Osiris that he should say Adam's name and rid himself of the powers he has come to hate. Osiris does so, only to be betrayed and killed by Sobek. Isis and Adam confront Sobek after finding Osiris's body, who reveals that he is Famine, the Fourth Horseman of
Apokolips, one of four creatures created by Intergang to attack Black Adam. Adam swiftly disposes of Sobek by elongating his jaws and does battle with the other three Horsemen. One of them, Pestilence, infects Isis with a deadly disease before Adam kills him and his partner War. A gravely ill Isis saves Adam from Death using her powers to send Death into the sky with a geyser of lava and tells Adam with her dying breath that she was wrong to try to change his views on justice, and that he should avenge both her and Osiris.
World War III After the funeral in honor of his family, Adam attacks the neighboring Intergang-associated nation of
Bialya in search of Death. Sick with grief over the death of his family, Adam proceeds to exterminate the entire population of Bialya in his hunt for his target. Upon confronting his family's killer, the enraged Adam battles a greatly enhanced Death, who has been feeding on the slaughter of Bialya's population. Despite his enhanced strength, Death is defeated by Adam with a barrage of mystic lightning. While torturing Death for an entire day, Adam learns the identity and whereabouts of the Horsemen's masters, flying off to Oolong Island in search of the
Science Squad. He easily gets past their defenses, even a weapon equivalent to the
meteorite that killed the dinosaurs proving incapable of stopping him. Adam is subdued by the scientists, who projected a dimensional field into his mind the size of a football field, rendering him powerless. They then use an electro-crown to re-route his body's impulses and hold him as a prisoner. Dr. Sivana tortures Adam for weeks using the electrical crown, which only serves to enrage Adam further, who vows to tear them all apart. The "Science Squad" makes a worldwide announcement that they plan to sell Black Adam as a living weapon to the highest bidder, resulting in the Justice Society assaulting the island to free Adam. It is revealed that
Chang Tzu had built the Horsemen under orders of China, who wanted Adam and his family to be assassinated after Adam withdrew from the Freedom of Power Treaty. Adam refuses to be taken into custody for the destruction of Bialya, despite the requests of Atom Smasher, once more flying off to seek revenge for the death of his family. Enraged to the point of madness, Black Adam launched a week-long attack against the heroes of the world, referred to afterward as "World War III". Tearing across the globe, Adam destroys many historical landmarks, including the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Egyptian pyramids in his battle with dozens of superheroes who attempt to stop him. After fighting and defeating the Marvel Family, the
Global Guardians, the
Doom Patrol, and the
Teen Titans, resulting in the deaths of
Young Frankenstein and
Terra, Adam's path of destruction eventually moves through China. Adam's sustained assault prompts the
Great Ten to allow the
Justice Society and a coalition of other American metahumans onto Chinese soil in an attempt to stop Adam. Captain Marvel pleads with the Egyptian gods to stop Black Adam's rampage, but the gods laughingly inform Marvel that Adam has their blessing. Although he failed to remove Adam's powers, Captain Marvel gathers with a group of mystics, including
Zatanna and the
Phantom Stranger, to work a spell which would allow him to use his powers to transform Adam back to his human form instead of himself.
Green Lantern (
Alan Scott) and
Power Girl restrain Adam as they dragged him into the lightning's path, but the resulting blast tears him from their hands. Teth-Adam, once again human, escaped with the aid of the Atom Smasher, who carried him to safety after saving him from his fall. After Adam was de-powered, Marvel also changed Adam's magic word with his abilities as the new guardian of the Rock of Eternity, keeping it secret to prevent him from ever regaining his powers. Despite her powers and consciousness being heavily sedated by Felix Faust's spells, Isis manages to use her powers to create a trail of flowers (including a batch in the shape of the Shazam magic lightning bolt symbol) to lead Adam to where Faust has been holding her captive. Finding Isis and freeing her from Faust's control, Black Adam then journeys to the Rock of Eternity and battles Billy Batson (now Marvel, the wizard of the Rock of Eternity, rather than Captain Marvel), using the same scarab necklace that once imprisoned him to strip Billy of his powers, with help from Isis sending lightning at Marvel and using them to take control of the Rock of Eternity. Isis plans to use the power of the Rock to "cleanse the earth" of all of humankind, which she sees as irrevocably evil. Adam and Isis are even able to convince Mary Marvel to join their crusade. The Black Marvels are soon challenged by the Justice Society, who has come to the aid of the powerless Billy Batson when he was trying to summon Freddy. During the course of the fight, the combatants end up in Kahndaq, where the people praise Adam's return. Isis then kills several of the followers, claiming that they are tainted by this new Earth. Adam attempts to protect his people, only to be attacked by Mary and Billy, who had been tainted by Mary's power. At that point, Jay Garrick (who had earlier been thrown by Isis into the mists surrounding the Rock of Eternity) appears with the spirit of Billy's father, and Shazam, whom the two had recovered from the Rock of Finality, where he had been imprisoned in a statue. Adam is convinced to return his power to Shazam, so that he could save Isis from her corruption. In turn, Shazam—who is furious at the misuse of the power he behest on his champions—takes the power from Isis, Billy, and Mary, and transforms Teth-Adam and Adrianna into statues. Sometime later, a shadowy figure appears in a bolt of lightning, gloating that Shazam has given him new champions to play with. After the
Blackest Night storyline, the resurrected Osiris returns to Kahndaq, vowing to restore the kingdom to its former prosperity. Osiris takes the petrified bodies of Adam and Isis and flies off to an unknown destination. After failing to revive Adam and Adriana, Osiris enlists in
Deathstroke's new team of
Titans in hopes of finding a way to save them. He has been told to resurrect Isis, but not Adam, which he does by killing people with his lightning by saying
Isis.
The New 52 (2011–2016) In
The New 52 (a 2011 reboot of the
DC Comics universe), Black Adam was mentioned by Dr. Sivana while listening to witness reports of the wizard Shazam. Sivana mentions that Adam was a slave summoned to the Rock of Eternity and granted immense powers, using them to protect Kahndaq from the Seven Deadly Sins before vanishing. During Sivana's explanation, drawings of Adam are shown in a historical text, displaying a slightly different look from his previous incarnations. Sivana later uses his new-found magic eye inside of some ruins to read a magically hidden hieroglyph that makes the wall explode, releasing Adam from his tomb. Adam is then shown in a revamped version of his original costume, which includes a cape, hood, and a metallic belt instead of a sash. His lightning bolt appears as an opening into his body with magical energy visibly inside of him. In Black Adam's subsequent pursuit of Shazam, Billy is shown the beginning of Adam's origin. It centers around the story of Aman, a Kahndaqi boy sold into a life of slavery and abuse. Thinking that he can surely relate and connect with another boy who has suffered like he has, Billy (without hearing the rest of the tale) rushes to Adam and tries to reason with him. To his surprise, Adam simply grabs him and tells him he "knows nothing". Black Adam shows Billy the rest of his origin, which reveals that Aman had an uncle (who helped Aman escape slavery), whose name was Adam. Adam was injured during their escape, and when Aman was chosen by the wizard to be his champion, Aman shared his power with Adam to heal him. However, while Aman wanted to use his new power for justice and to "cure" his former enslavers of their evil souls, Adam only sought
vengeance against those who had enslaved them. To this end, when Aman called down the lightning, Adam seemingly killed Aman so that he himself was the sole recipient of the wizard's power. However, the details of Aman's "death" are not shown, leaving his fate open to speculation. Adam refers to Aman's "sacrifice" and tells Billy that he will go to any lengths to "free this world from those who enslave it". In the finale of Shazam's origin story, Black Adam holds Billy's foster siblings hostage and demands he give up his power, or they will die. But instead of giving Adam his power, he shares it with his foster siblings, empowering them as "Shazams", as well. Together, they fight Adam and the "host" that the seven sins have inhabited. Eventually, the collateral damage endangers civilians, so Billy orders them to save the people while he alone battles Adam. He finally realizes that his knowledge of his newly acquired powers cannot defeat Adam, who has much more experience using his magic, and decides to change back into his child form. As normal teenager Billy, he challenges Adam to also change (into Teth-Adam) to make it a "fair" fight. Upon doing so, Teth-Adam realizes too late that without immortality, his body can now age, and he instantly crumbles into dust as the centuries catch up to him. During the
Forever Evil storyline, revolutionaries in Kahndaq use an ancient scroll to attempt to revive Black Adam so he will be their champion once again to save them from their oppressive ruler. A man named Amon begins to read the ancient spell, but before he can complete it, the military attacks them. Amon, injured, makes his sister Adrianna complete the spell, which revives Adam. He proceeds to defeat the military forces and kills the Kahndaqi ruler. Acting as Kahndaq's protector again, Adam sees the
Crime Syndicate's message "The World is Ours" and gets angered saying "this world belongs to no one!" When
Jimmy Olsen activates his Superman signal watch when confronted by
Ultraman, Adam answers the call and ends up fighting Ultraman. Ultraman manages to defeat Adam by breaking his jaw and throws him unconscious into the ocean. Black Manta managed to fish Adam out of the ocean when he meets up with Lex Luthor. During the final battle against the Crime Syndicate, Adam and Sinestro move the Moon where the Sun ends up weakening Ultraman. In the aftermath of the battle against the Crime Syndicate, it was stated that the villains who helped to stop the Crime Syndicate would have their criminal records wiped. Adam and Sinestro did not care about that and went their separate ways, along with the other villains.
DC Rebirth (2016–2018) In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "
DC Rebirth", which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". Black Adam appears in the
Dark Nights: Metal miniseries. He is revealed to be a member of the Council of the Immortals, a group with the oldest beings of Earth, such as
Vandal Savage and
Hawkgirl. Adam supposedly kills Doctor Fate at the Rock of Eternity while in a fight against him,
Wonder Woman, and Hawkgirl, who is by that point transformed by Barbatos into an evil version of herself named Lady Blackhawk. When Billy and his family stumble upon the doors to the various Magiclands and go to the Funland, Black Adam arrives at the Rock of Eternity some time after their departure, noting that the Council of Eternity sealed off the Magiclands for a reason, that the door to the Monsterland is still sealed for now, and that Billy has no idea what he has done. In
Doomsday Clock, Black Adam takes advantage of "the Superman Theory" and the metahuman arms race, rescuing the Creeper from
Kobra's cult and allowing metahuman refugees to seek asylum in Kahndaq. He and the Creeper later attack Israel. Then he, the Creeper, and Giganta attacked the United Nations and fought Wonder Woman. When Wonder Woman took down Giganta, Adam engaged Wonder Woman. Adam later attacks the
White House, now accompanied by Doc Dread,
Killer Frost,
Lady Clayface,
Man-Bat,
Manhunter, Sandstorm, and Stingaree. When the People's Heroes, the Outsiders, and the Doomed appear with plans to make Superman pay for his involvement in the incident that occurred in Russia, Adam leads his group into getting to Superman first. Adam and his group are eventually defeated when Superman receives support from the
Legion of Super-Heroes and the
Justice Society of America. In order for Black Adam to distract the Shazam Family while he and Doctor Sivana went to the Monsterlands to free the Monster Society of Evil, Mister Mind summoned the
Seven Deadly Enemies of Man who assist him in attacking Shazam and Lady Shazam up to the point where Shazam shared his powers with his biological father C.C. Batson. There was a flux in the powers between C.C. Batson and Mary Bromfield that affected their fight with Adam and the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man. This went back and forth until the Wizard teleported them to Wozenderlands before Adam and the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man can attack. After C.C. returns Mamaragan to the Rock of Eternity, Adam arrives and starts to strangle C.C. while stating that he is with Mister Mind in his plot. C.C. starts to cast a spell to separate Adam's soul from his body and send it to the Darklands. He will be torn between realms as a way for him to see his family again. It turned out that C.C. is the real host of Mister Mind. The Shazam Family comments on the magic used on Adam when they see his body prior to their fight with the Monster Society of Evil. Scapegoat and
Red Queen note that Adam is immobilized as he refused to follow Mister Mind. When Mister Mind was defeated, the spell on Adam was broken as he helps Shazam to fight Superboy-Prime. While blaming Billy for opening the doors to the Magiclands, Adam advises Shazam to undo the spell that would unite the Magiclands into one. Both of them attempt to take out Superboy-Prime, realizing that he was still somewhat vulnerable to magic but needing to use greater power to actively defeat him. Adam begins to turn to dust, but Shazam restores him by reclaiming the powers he placed in C.C. Batson. Once the spell is undone, Adam flies off, advising Shazam not to open the doors to the Magiclands again. Mamaragan later notes that Shazam will see that Adam will eventually get a full redemption.
New Justice (2018-2021) During the "
Endless Winter" storyline, Black Adam was once freed in the 10th century by
Hippolyta,
Swamp Thing, and
Viking Prince to help deal with the Frost King. When Flash is attacked by the Frost King's ice monsters, he is saved by Adam. Adam,
Silver Banshee,
Catman,
Icicle,
Rampage, and
Multiplex arrive at the Stagg Enterprises facility in Gotham City where Frost King's family is kept in stasis. Multiplex tries helping Adam, but he overexhausts himself and Frost King kills Multiplex. Adam threatens to kill Frost King's family. While Frost King is distracted, Sebastian Stagg sends out a robot that can fire cold fusion cannons, but it makes the Frost King stronger instead. Just before Adam is killed, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Batman, and Green Lantern arrive. When it turns out that the Frost King's real body was trapped in the
Fortress of Solitude, Superman prevents Adam from killing him. When the Frost King is seemingly destroyed in an explosion, Adam leaves while swearing vengeance on Superman.
Infinite Frontier (2021–2023) In
Infinite Frontier, Black Adam joins the Justice League and attempts to turn over a new leaf, harkening back to the lessons Adrianna had taught him. He began acting more as a protector than an avenger, which attracted the attention of Superman, who believed that the Justice League needed fresh perspectives. On the anniversary of Adrianna's death, Adam visits her grave, reflecting on what she had tried to impart on him. While doing so, he is attacked by Brutus, an invader from another world. After the conflict with Brutus concludes, Adam joins the League. == Characterization ==