If there is one thing that Dwayne Johnson loves right now, it is talking about his upcoming movie Black Adam. He recently spoke to Men’s Journal about stepping up to the DC plate with the super-charged superhero’s DCEU debut. Johnson has professed at every given opportunity that the film will “disrupt the hierarchy” of the DC universe as it is currently known. The anti-hero, who is usually depicted in the comic books of DC as the adversary of Shazam, but just as Black Adam didn’t appear in the Zachary Levi movie, Levi’s character is not expected to make an appearance in Black Adam’s debut. In his new interview, Johnson took a moment to explain what he believes is the difference between his character and the likes of Superman and Batman.

One thing clear about the Black Adam movie is that it will push boundaries in many ways. It is going to be dark, brutal, and boasts a hefty body count, unlike many other DC movies, which tend to only kill off one or two bad guys on screen, but nothing like the complete massacre that seems to be heading our way with Johnson’s DCEU introduction. In the interview, he explained:

“In the traditional DC Universe, as we all know, if you do something wrong Superman and Batman are gonna try and bring you to justice. If you do something wrong to Black Adam, you’re going to die. It’s that simple. I believe this character is going to bring a unique edge to the superhero genre. We’re gonna be turning preconceived notions on their ear."

While both Batman and Superman have been known to have their own dark moments, when vengeance seems ready to take them over and see them kill without remorse, there is always something of a moral dilemma that takes place before the righteousness of the DC world is put back in the place and unjustified killing is avoided. For Black Adam, it doesn’t seem like that is necessarily how things will end.

Black Adam’s Violent Approach To Justice Will Make Him Stand Out From Other Superheroes

Zack Snyder’s DC movies may have presented some dark moments for DC’s favorite heroes, and Christopher Nolan brought a new gritty reality to the Batman franchise in his Dark Knight Trilogy, but through both sets of movies, the caped heroes were still bound mainly by their unwillingness to kill unless entirely necessary. Johnson’s Black Adam however, is ready to take out anyone that he takes a dislike to without any question, and that does bring a different tone to the DCEU.

While Johnson has previously boasted that his movie will have one of the highest body counts of any DC movie, and will push the violence levels to breaking point, another character is already ripping up the rule book is John Cena’s Peacemaker, who is having a great run on HBO Max at the moment in his debut series. With Marvel all set to delve into darker territory with the likes of Moon Knight, Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness and the very adult arrival of Deadpool 3 to come, Dwayne Johnson’s “unique edge” may prove to not be a one-off for very long at all.