Black Adam

History

Black Adam is the first recipient of the powers of Shazam. Born in the ancient Egyptian empire to Pharaoh Ramses the Second in the neighboring (fictional) land of Kahndaq, Black Adam‘s mortal name was Adam. While there are contradictory accounts in different comics of the circumstances of Black Adam’s early history, certain elements are consistent

The wizard Shazam was at the time serving as high priest to Ramses II, and seeking a successor to his godly powers, became impressed with the virtue and martial heroism displayed by Adam. Having determined to make Adam his successor, Shazam’s intentions are altered by the intervention of his half-demonic daughter Blaze. Blaze strikes a bargain with the god Set, so that when Adam speaks the word “Shazam”, he becomes Teth-Adam (or Mighty Adam), the avatar not of the wizard’s deific patrons, but of the Egyptian gods Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aton and Mehen.

Teth then serves the Egyptian pharaoh as his champion, presumably at the behest of the wizard Shazam, for many years. At some point, a time-traveling adventure of the Justice Society shows him in service to Prince Khufu (an early reincarnation of Hawkman) alongside the Wizard Nabu. This service however, draws him away from his family and home country of Kahndaq, which is attacked in his absence, resulting in the murder of his family and the devastation of his people. The attack is carried out by a rogue priest who has used the Orb of Ra to give himself Metamorpho-like powers, and who plots conquest in league with the immortal Vandal Savage. With the assistance of the time traveling members of the Justice Society Of America, the two villains are eventually defeated. Captain Marvel, interacting with his predecessor prior to his fall from grace, is both impressed by the valor and nobility of Adam, and disturbed by the bloody vengeance he exacts from the murderer of his family.

Though he goes on to serve the pharaoh of Egypt for hundreds of years thereafter, Teth Adam eventually falls from the good graces of the wizard Shazam. In different accountings, this happens either because Adam becomes dictatorial towards Kahndaq, because he becomes corrupted and homicidal by his powers, or because the wizard believes he is plotting conquest with Blaze. Henceforth, the wizard refers to him as Khem (Black) Adam. In any event, Shazam somehow magically transposes Teth Adam’s powers (and apparently Teth Adam’s spirit) into a mystical scarab amulet, where they remain for thousands of years. Having been unnaturally supported past his normal lifespan, Adam’s body disintegrates. Made cautious by this failure, Shazam does not empower another champion until Billy Batson is made into Captain Marvel in modern times.

The scarab amulet finds its way into the tomb of Ramses II, and remains there until an archeological expedition financed by Dr. Sivana serves as the vehicle for fate’s intercession. Leading the expedition is Billy Batson’s father C.C. Batson, and he discovers the scarab amulet along with his wife Marylyn and assistant Theo Adam. Becoming immediately obsessed with the amulet, the unscrupulous assistant kills the Batsons to claim it for himself. Theo Adam discovers he is a descendent (or reincarnation?) of Black Adam’s, and learns to speak the magic word that bestows upon him the powers of Black Adam (and eventually releases the ancient warrior’s spirit). Recognizing Captain Marvel’s resemblance to C.C. Batson, the empowered Theo Adam reveals himself as the murderer of Billy’s parents, and the two battle. Marvel achieves victory by snatching away the scarab from Theo, and he is taken before the wizard Shazam who removes his memory and voice.

This solution proves short-lived, however, as Shazam’s daughter Blaze again intervenes and restores Theo’s faculties and thereby his powers. Holding the soul of his sister hostage in hell, she coerces Theo to serve her in a plot against the wizard. When her brother Satanus interferes and releases his sister’s soul, Black Adam turns on Blaze and she is defeated by the wizard. Theo / Teth Adam is then sent to a far-flung part of the cosmos. He eventually returns and claims to be free of the influence of Theo, and apparently fingerprint analysis confirms this.

Hereafter there is confusion as to whether Black Adam’s real persona is Teth or Theo Adam. His next appearance shows him acting irrational and violent, and opposed by the Justice Society, who are only able to stop him by bringing lightning from ancient Egypt to the present and transforming Adam back to mortal form. From this point on, the mortal form Black Adam transmogrifies to is that of Teth in his prime, and he appears to be the sole personality involved. He claims to have been once again temporarily under the influence of Theo, who while under control of their persona made a deal with Johnny Sorrow, who removed a brain tumor from Theo in return for his joining the Injustice Society. Black Adam then claims to be free of Theo. He joins the Society against Sorrow and they triumph. Applying for membership in the Justice Society, Adam is accepted as a probationary member. However, there is a great deal of suspicion of him, particularly from Atom Smasher, who is openly hostile, and Captain Marvel, who joins also to keep an eye on Adam.

After multiple adventures with the Justice Society, Adam becomes discontent with what he feels to be the Society’s ineffectual and reactive approach to evil-doers. Black Adam is shown to be a proud and stern champion from another, more brutal age. He is portrayed very much as a sort of Nietzschean anti-hero, who does not hesitate to follow his own concepts of justice, whether or not they are in conflict with those of others. Having gradually won the friendship and respect of Atom Smasher, Black Adam recruits him, along with a few other powered individuals, to take a proactive, and decidedly bloody, approach to fighting injustice. This group includes a Mister Mind controlled Brainwave Jr., a devolved Northwind and his Feitherean tribe, Eclipso II, and Nemesis. One of their first targets is Kobra, who Adam passes sentence on by ripping his heart out. The group goes on to dispatch the repressive regime of Adam’s homeland Kahndaq, and when the JSA arrive to oppose him, they find he is universally hailed as a liberator and savior. The JSA decide to leave Adam unchallenged as Kahndaq’s ruler, as long as he stays within its borders.

Adam cares little for their ultimatums, however, and in the series, “Villains United”, is soon temporarily recruited into a new Secret Society by a pre-crisis Alex Luthor masquerading as Lex Luthor. The alliance is purely a result of Adam being coerced by a perceived threat to the people of Kahndaq. Often disgusted by his unwanted cohorts, Teth is manipulated into a conflict with Superman by the mind controlling Dr. Psycho. While Superman states to himself that he will not hold back with Adam, he appears neither able to restrain or damage Teth during the fight. Regretful at having to combat a being he considers so noble, Adam simply turns his back on an impending blow from the Kryptonian that Superman states would have destroyed a moon. This gives Superman pause, and faced with the threat of mass suicide of Metropolis citizens by Dr. Psycho, Superman does not attempt to delay Adam’s and Dr. Psycho‘s departure. Black Adam is eventually betrayed by his villainous allies when it is revealed that Alex Luthor intended to use him as a mystical battery in his plot to manipulate the fabric of reality. Adam turns against the villains, and battles Superman Prime momentarily, though neither damages the other. Psycho-Pirate is summarily executed by Adam. He then joins the other heroes in a battle royale, and is represented performing the astounding feat of tearing the head off of Amazo.

52

In “52”, Black Adam remains Kahndaq’s ruler and protector, and appears to continue to receive the adoration of the populace. Appearing to harden further, he undertakes a vicious pogrom on the super-villains he encounters, going so far as to rip a minor villain in half in front of an aghast Lois Lane and other members of the press corps while hovering over Metropolis. He also shows a no-tolerance policy towards all meta-humans, including the JSA, who violate Kahndaq air space. Moreover, he begins to build a coalition of national powers hostile to the perceived threat of the U.S. powered community, called the Freedom of Power Treaty. He is courted by reprsentatives of Intergang, who offer as a gift to him a beautiful young woman named Adrianna whom they have abducted and enslaved. Disgusted and outraged, Black Adam slaughters them where they stand.

Offered sanctuary, Adrianna soon infuriates Adam by fearlessly criticizing the angry and hostile nature of his actions. With remarkable insight, she is able too show him that the source of his rage is the loss of his wife and children in ancient Kahndaq. She reveals to him her own painful past and how she and her brother were abducted by Intergang. A close bond grows between them, and Adrianna sways Adam to change his hostile ways and begin to use his powers in a gentler and more productive fashion. The two fall in love, and Teth uses the wisdom of Zehuti and a powerful magical artifact concealed within the very scarab that Shazam had imprisoned him in to empower Adrianna with the power of Isis at the Rock of Eternity. The two seek out Isis’s brother, Amon, and they find him on death’s door after a failed escape attempt from Intergang. His wounds too grievous for even Isis to heal, Amon is saved by Black Adam, who gifts him with a portion of his power even as Captain Marvel had done for Freddy Freeman. Taking the name of Osiris, he becomes the third member of a new Black Marvel family.

Isis and Black Adam are married, with the Marvels in attendance. Osiris briefly joins the Teen Titans. The three are attacked by the Suicide Squad, and seeking to save his sister Isis, Osiris miscalculates the durability of the Persuader and gorily dispatches him. The scenario is a set-up, and the video footage of the killing is used to discredit the Black Marvels. Osiris acquires a companion in Sobek, a huge talking mutant crocodile (a clear homage to the talking tiger in the old Shazam comics) the Black Marvel family rescues while visiting Beautia Sivana. This too is a set-up, however, and Sobek tricks a despondent Osiris into transforming to his mortal form. Sobek then devours Osiris / Amon, and thereby reveals himself to be Famine, one member of four superpowered creatures created by the Science Squad as part of a treacherous attack by Intergang. Isis is killed in the fight with the remaining Horsemen, and with her dying breath, bids Adam to avenge her and Osiris. Having slain the other three Horsemen, Black Adam tracks Death to Bialya, whose government has participated in this attack on the Black Marvels. The maddened Adam tortures Death until he reveals all he knows of the plot, then in a fit of Luciferian rage, kills every citizen of Bialya.

His lust for vengeance unabated, Black Adam races to the island where the mad scientist’s coalition that created the Horsemen are headquartered. Accosted by the U.S. military, Adam demonstrates his displeasure by lobbing an aircraft carrier towards a major U.S. city (it is intercepted by Firestorm). Prepared for him however, T.O.Morrow utilizes a device that effectively teleports an astronomical event into the skull of the enraged juggernaut, stunning him and allowing him to be captured. He is tortured for weeks by the cabal of brilliant madmen, with the intent of eventually selling him as a weapon. The JSA intervenes, however, and frees Adam. Learning that it was his former superpowered allies in China who enlisted the scientists because of his abandonment of the Freedom of Power Treaty, Adam bolts away to unleash his veangence upon the Chinese.

Attempting to intercept him, the brave but outclassed Teen Titans are badly beaten by Black Adam, whose all-consuming rage at the loss of yet another family has put him beyond temperance or mercy. Two Titans, Young Frankenstein and Terra, are slain. The Martian Manhunter, one of the few beings to match Adam in power on earth, attempts to subdue him psychically but is himself driven temporarily catatonic. Black Adam singlehandedly slays the most powerful superhumans in China before the Chinese acquiesce to let the American superhumans intervene on their soil. In a stunning display of power and ferocity, Black Adam then goes on to stand alone against a conglomeration of some of earth’s most powerful beings, including multiple Green Lanterns, Firestorm, Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, the Marvel family, the remaining Teen Titans, the JSA, and many others. Attempting to win the intercession of the gods who empower Adam, Captain Marvel is instead violently repulsed by them from their plane of existence. Acting in concert with other powerful magic-users, Marvel (now the guardian of the Rock of Eternity) is able to transform Adam to his mortal form and change the Word so that Adam cannot regain his link to the Egyptian pantheon that empowers him. Captain Marvel says it is a word Adam will never guess. Teth escapes the fray and is shown wandering the Middle East muttering various random words in the hope of regaining his powers.

In “[[Black Adam: The Dark Age:vol:19003]]”, a depowered Adam goes to extraordinary lengths to bring his dead love Isis back to life. Assisted by a fanatically devoted cadre of countrymen, Adam first has them beat him until he is unrecognizable, then leads the group to recover the bones of Isis in Kahndaq. Hunted by the world’s superheroes and many other enemies, Adam eludes pursuit and brings the bones of Isis to a Lazarus Pit. Adam endures incredible hardship and is forced to disembowel a Yeti in single combat, and to cannibalize his last remaining comrade. Because the corpse is missing a finger however, he is unsuccessful at reviving her. He then makes his way to the tower of Doctor Fate, where he encounters an imprisoned Felix Faust. Striking a deal with Faust, Adam sets out to recover the missing pieces of Isis’s amulet. Through the magic of Faust, Adam is granted his powers by leaching the residual magic from Isis’s bones, though Faust warns him that this could eventually prevent her resurrection if overused. Along the way, Adam visits Fawcett City and through a fortunate chance occurrence learns what Captain Marvel changed the Magic Word to: “Chocolate Egg Cream”. Though he is successful at recovering the amulet, Faust tricks Adam into believing the resurrection was unsuccessful. Teth flies off in despair as Felix Faust is shown escaping the tower with an ensorcelled Isis.

Mary Marvel next encounters Black Adam at the Kahdaq embassy in “Countdown #49”. The deserted embassy is littered with the corpses of those who have wandered in on Adam’s grief-induced madness. Having been disempowered, she has felt drawn to the place by inner promptings. The embassy is in a bad neighborhood and she is chased by hoodlums into the embassy who are intent on victimizing her. Adam swiftly kills them. He appears about to kill her too, even after he recognizes who she is. They argue over whether the powers are a curse or a blessing. Adam then transfers all of his powers to her. As he exits the scene in his ancient Egyptian mortal form, Teth tells the new Black Mary Marvel to tell Billy "Sorry".

Powers and Abilities

Black Adam is gifted with a panoply of powers that appear to correspond to and match, if not exceed, those of Captain Marvel. Essentially, he is gifted with six attributes of particular gods who are exemplars of them. He is as strong, fast, durable, powerful, knowing, and as possessed of inner strength as six gods who are pinnacles of those qualities. These powers are both magical and divine in nature. They are magical insofar as it was the Wizard Shazam who originally provided the link to the gods who empower Black Adam, but the powers themselves come directly from the six gods who lend their puissance to him. This is a significant distinction insofar as the gods seem to have shown reluctance to abandon their avatar, even when his magical patron would clearly rather have removed his gift. While the wizard was able to initially displace the powers into an amulet, this was clearly not sufficient to keep Adam from eventually reclaiming them. Nor was Shazam apparently able to repeat the feat in the modern age. Captain Marvel, having apparently inherited the wizard Shazam’s power after the Spectre slew him, was roughly rebuked when he sought the gods’ intercession with Black Adam during the events of 52. It took an impressive coalition of magic-users acting in concert with Marvel, and the simultaneous distraction of fighting a large contingent of the world’s heroes, to change the Word and temporarily disempower the violent powerhouse.

The chief distinction between the power of Captain Marvel and that of Black Adam is that Adam’s powers are provided by the Egyptian, rather than the Greek, pantheon. Presumably, the two are nearly equal in power, though it is conceivable that one god might be more potent than another (an interesting note is that Solomon, Achilles, and Hercules - three of Marvel’s patrons, were originally at least half mortal). Aside from the short-lived Black Marvel family, Black Adam does not share his power the way Billy does with Freddy, rendering him much more powerful in most situations. Therefore, any feat demonstrated by Captain Marvel should be at the very least duplicable by Adam. Teth even in mortal form shows remarkable ability to inspire his followers, even to their deaths, and was an able warrior before being given his abilities. Moreover, Adam has had centuries more experience with his powers than most super-beings, and is an accomplished and iron-willed combatant even without his powers. The powers granted to Black Adam are as follows:

Shu

Heru

Amon

Zehuti

Aton

Mehen