It's Time To Talk About The Big Hurut Twist In Black Adam
Contains spoilers for "Black Adam"
After a long 15-year developmental journey, "Black Adam" has finally hit theaters. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's first foray into the world of comic book movies is an action-packed thrill ride and, you guessed it, is here to disrupt the hierarchy of power in the DC universe.
The Rock has done nothing but promise a change of pace for the DC Extended Universe, which has failed time after time to produce a shared universe resembling the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, "Black Adam" may not be the exact success that Warner Bros. needed to extinguish the dumpster fire that is the DCEU. While the movie debuted to positive responses, it has since fallen to a gnarly 42% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, with sites like The Verge citing the film's insatiable need to show how cool murder can be over telling a compelling story.
"Black Adam" shoves a lot of information at the audience throughout its two-hour runtime. The movie hits the ground running, opening with Teth-Adam's (Johnson) supposed origins and quickly jumping to the present day to look at our human protagonists, Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) and Amon (Bodhi Sabongui). From there, the Justice Society brings in four new characters. There's a lot to take in while watching "Black Adam," so you may have understandably missed some things. The film's most significant plot twist comes from the numerous flashbacks to the Champion of Kahndaq, so let's break down what it all means.
Black Adam's flashbacks purposefully misled the audience
From the beginning, "Black Adam" introduces audience members to the plotline surrounding the titular anti-hero's origins. The movie opens up with a flashback to 2600 B.C. when the ruthless king Anh-Kot enslaved the people of Kahndaq, forcing them to mine the country's natural resource, a powerful substance called Eternium. A young enslaved boy attempts to stage a revolution to free his people from their inhumane situation, but Anh-Kot's soldiers capture him and sentence him to death. Before the soldiers can strike the killing blow, the boy receives the powers of Shazam, becoming the Champion of Kahndaq, which he uses to kill the king and end his reign before being entombed.
The event goes down in Kahndaq's history, inspiring its citizens as they go through endless phases of occupation by different forces. It's not until the Justice Society arrives that we get more information surrounding the Champion. Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) reveals to Adrianna that Black Adam nearly destroyed Kahndaq, resulting in his imprisonment, not entombment.
After later saving Amon from Intergang, Adam reveals to Hawkman that he's not the legendary Champion of Kahndaq but the father of the actual Champion. The young boy that fueled the nation's revolution and received the powers of Shazam was, in fact, his son, Hurut. As the Champion, Hurut was invincible, so the king's men attacked his family instead. To save his father from certain death, Hurut transferred his powers to Adam, giving the assassins the opportunity they needed to kill Hurut.
A rage-filled Adam uses his new powers to get revenge for his son's death, destroying most of Kahndaq before being brought in front of the wizards of Shazam. The wizards deem him unworthy to hold the powers and imprison him for eternity.
Hurut and Black Adam's relationship goes back to the comics
"Black Adam" takes much of its inspiration from DC Comics' New 52 run of the character, though the comic book origin is a bit darker than Dwayne Johnson's portrayal. While Johnson's comic book counterpart doesn't have a son named Hurut, his nephew Aman played a significant role in his origin.
First appearing — or should we say reappearing — in "Justice League Vol 2" #10, the newly reset DC Universe gave Black Adam a new spin on his origin story. This version of Teth-Adam, like "Black Adam," was enslaved in ancient Kahndaq, where the nation's dictator murdered his entire family, leaving only his nephew, Aman. During their escape, Adam receives a life-threatening injury before the Wizard Shazam transports the two to the Rock of Eternity. There, the wizard deems Aman worthy of the powers of Shazam, tasking him with freeing Kahndaq. Aman agrees, but only if the wizard heals Adam. Aman receives the powers, and the wizard heals and strengthens Adam.
Adam and Aman travel back to Kahndaq but disagree about how to use their newly received powers. While Adam wants to exact revenge by killing the dictator, Aman seeks a more peaceful solution. Fearing that Aman's plan won't work, Adam kills his nephew and steals his powers, claiming he did it for the greater good. He becomes the Mighty Adam and goes down in history as the champion that freed Kahndaq.
Similar to "Black Adam," the comics say that the Champion disappeared. However, Adam turned against the Council of Eternity that gave him his powers and killed them. The Wizard Shazam, the only surviving member, manages to imprison him and dub him Black Adam.
"Black Adam" is now playing in theaters.