Is "Black Adam" the First Post-Woke Superhero?

He's a nationalistic, criminal-killing, male role model

“I don't want you teaching my son about violence,” complains Adrianna, the female protagonist in DC's new “Black Adam” movie.

“I understand,” deadpans Dwayne Johnson as the titular antihero, a 5,000 year-old demigod. “You want his father to teach him about violence.”

Adrianna splutters in protest, but she sees what the audience sees: her skinny, teenage son gazing in awe at a muscular hero who has the strength to fight evil and the will to do so with whatever force is necessary.

This scene, along with many in the thoroughly entertaining “Black Adam,” makes one thing very clear: women need real men, and boys do too.

With the unapologetically testosterone-laden Black Adam character, Hollywood seems to have broken the mold that gave us a decade of self-loathing (Batman, Superman) and re-educated (Iron Man, Captain America) superheroes. Not only does Adam project old-school masculinity himself, he inspires it in others. By the end of the movie, Adrianna's timid, overweight brother is fearlessly smashing undead skeletons with a pipe wrench, as her son, Amon, joyfully fights mercenaries while zipping around on his skateboard like a latter-day Aladdin-meets-Marty McFly.

“Black Adam” is set in the fictional desert nation of Khandaq. As a secular, urbanized, Arabic-speaking country occupied by Western mercenaries (there to facilitate the plunder of unnamed “natural resources”), it bears a closer resemblance to Blackwater-infested, post-Saddam Iraq than anything in today’s Middle East. Thankfully, pains seem to have been taken to ensure that the foreign occupation avoids any resemblance to Israel's West Bank. A smorgasbord of European and American mercenaries operate checkpoints, women walk around without head coverings, and there isn't a mosque in sight.

In Khandaq, national pride runs deep, both in the populace and its hero. Adrianna excoriates the Justice Society for standing by and letting Khandaq be occupied by foreign invaders in the name of “stability,” but rushing to intervene as soon as the people have a hero capable of fighting back. Unlike the ethos of Manifest Destiny that underlies most superhero fiction, “Black Adam” openly expresses criticism of globalism in general, and self-serving Western imperialism in particular. Adam reflects this isolationist tendency: he is not interested in saving the world, he is solely focused on protecting his people.

It is noteworthy that in 2018’s “Black Panther,” the character who wanted to protect his nation of Wakanda from the world, and opposed sharing their advanced technology for fear of losing their defensive advantage, was the bad guy. Four years ago, the UN was the entity to which Wakanda pledged its fealty. Now, Khandaq knows better than to get entangled with international technocrats.

Granted, this could be an ideological difference between Marvel and DC, but it seems to reflect a broader change in the zeitgeist. In the post-Covid era, global organizations just don't seem like the good guys, even to mainstream audiences.

In numerous ways, “Black Adam” seems to reflect an updated sense of what audiences are looking for. The cast is racially diverse, but not in a forced or artificial way. There are no LGBTQ characters or storylines. Most importantly, there's no woke moralizing. In fact, as one would expect of a character that represents the traditional values of the ancient world, Black Adam mocks the progressive sensibilities of the Justice Society superheroes sent to rein him in. Interestingly, the population is shown agreeing with him. A crowd of people applauds Adam for killing a large number of mercenaries, and grumbles sullenly at Hawkman when they realize he managed to save two mercs that Adam had dropped from a height.

Is it possible that the studios have had enough of getting woke and going broke? Did the blockbuster smash success of “Top Gun 2” make it clear that audiences are tired of mopey, feminized men and overbearing, preachy women? Only time will tell, but with Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam, the entertainment industry is taking a size-14 step in the right direction.