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Is Black Adam a hero or a villain?

In the world of superheroes, we like to know whether a character is good or bad, but it's not easy to work out if Black Adam is a hero or a villain

Is Black Adam a hero or a villain? Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam

Is Black Adam a hero or a villain? The hierarchy of power in the DCEU is about to change forever, but will it be for the better or worse when the Black Adam release date finally arrives? The new superhero movie has us wondering whether Black Adam is a good guy or a bad guy, so we’ve taken a look at the evidence.

The Dwayne Johnson movie has been a long time coming, after multiple delays over the years, but Black Adam is finally here. In the DC movie, we see one of the most powerful characters in the comic book world brought to life, and as we know, with great power comes great responsibility.

But how does Black Adam handle that responsibility, and is Black Adam a hero or a villain? Warning, spoilers ahead as we explore this concept.

Is Black Adam a hero or a villain?

Would it shock you to learn that Black Adam is neither a hero nor a villain, but another, more complicated third option – Black Adam is an anti-hero. 

Life isn’t always black and white, and the same goes for Black Adam’s alignment between good and evil. Black Adam is incredibly violent and angry, so he’s not really a good guy, but the only people he hurts are usually pretty nasty pieces of work.

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In the action movie, Black Adam kills a lot of people and doesn’t exactly operate in the way you’d normally expect from your classic hero. That said, he never hurts an innocent person (not on purpose at least), and he actually stands up for the people of Kahndaq against the evil Intergang.

So, while Black Adam isn’t the standard hero we see in Marvel movies, it would be harsh to class him as a villain, too, because, although he has no rule about killing people, he only inflicts pain on those who kinda deserve it – like the Sabbac.

Black Adam is released on October 21, 2022, and here’s how to watch Black Adam. For more bad guys, check out our list of the best Marvel villains.