Rob Liefeld has always been a very vocal and regularly contentious presence among comic book and film fans alike, but the Deadpool creator is poised to stir up a potential hornet’s nest among DC supporters after making some comments about Black Adam that could be interpreted as disparaging.
The character made his first appearance on the printed page way, way, way back in December of 1945, and has been a mainstay of various DC publications for almost half a century, but it wouldn’t be too unfair to suggest that Teth-Adam was hardly a household name on anything approaching the same scale as contemporaries like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, or even the Flash, Green Arrow, and Aquaman.
With that in mind, you can understand where Liefeld’s recent tweet was coming from, but it’s destined to irritate many longtime readers, as has been made abundantly clear already in the various comments and replies.
In Liefeld’s defense, even director Jaume Collet-Serra admitted he hadn’t heard of the title hero until he was pitched the project by star, producer, and Jungle Cruise collaborator Dwayne Johnson, and a lot of people will be in the exact same boat in regards to Black Adam.
Diehard comic book readers and casual cinemagoing audiences are two completely different beasts, but the former should be happy that the latter will be discovering who Black Adam is, what he stands for, and how he lends himself to a blockbuster superhero spectacular, which is driven by the presence of the planet’s biggest movie star in the lead role.