The cast of Black Adam is one of the strongest in the DCEU, if only for the fact that it unites Dwayne Johnson and former James Bond, Pierce Brosnan. In the DC movie, Brosnan plays Doctor Fate, a hero burdened with a mystical object that carries a hefty price.
In an interview with GQ, Brosnan broke down who Doctor Fate is and what state we find him in. “Doctor Fate has the Helmet of Nabu, which is a curse and a blessing because he is shackled to the power of the helmet,” he explains. “It’s an addiction, and it’s a curse.”
Brosnan is playing the Kent Wilson iteration of Doctor Fate, an architect who develops a symbiotic relationship with a being called Nabu, one of the Lords of Order. In the comics, these are among the first race to inhabit the universe. During a dig, Kent disturbs Nabu, who becomes fascinated by the human and decides to live his body (these are some extreme cliff notes), giving Kent the helmet to tap into Nabu’s powers.
It’s a shaky relationship, and it sounds like the action movie will tap into that. Kent is a founding and long-time member of the Justice Society of America, who feature prominently in Black Adam.
In trailers for the Dwayne Johnson movie, Doctor Fate has been framed as a mentor and source of wisdom on the new sort-of Superman. This fits with who he is later in his life as a leader of the JSA. We’ll have to see if he maintains the peace with Dwayne Johnson’s anti-villain.
“It all sounds like a lot of froo-froo,” Brosnan says of describing the DCEU out loud. “It’s stuff that you have to lend your heart to, if you go into the mythology of it, whether it be Doctor Fate or James Bond.”
Wise words. Black Adam is in theatres on October 21, 2022. Have a look at our guide to Aquaman 2 for more of DC’s finest.