50 Greatest Super Villains In Comic Book History

45. Black Adam

(Write-up by Nick Tylwalk, Bam Smack Pow Editor)

Can a character who once killed every citizen in an entire nation as an act of revenge really be considered a sympathetic one? If your answer is anything but “no,” I don’t think we can be friends.

Yet it’s not a stretch to say that Black Adam, throughout his ever-changing history, has always been driven by relatable motivations. Originally, his was a simple tale of absolute power corrupting absolutely, and he’s hardly the only pop culture example of that particular weakness.

More recently, he’s been a man on a quest for vengeance, albeit one powered by the gifts of seven Egyptian gods. He’s angry because his family was murdered, and if he happens to kill some people who have it coming … well, Marvel’s Punisher has been doing the same thing with bullets that Black Adam does with magically-enhanced strength for years, and fans consider him a hero.

Whoops, there I go sliding toward sympathy myself. Prior to the whole wiping out of Bialya thing, even the members of the Justice Society felt Black Adam deserved a second chance. It didn’t take, but at least they had good company in the wizard Shazam in thinking maybe Adam could be steered toward the light.

It remains to be seen where the New 52 version of Black Adam falls on the sliding scale between villain and anti-hero, but you have to admire the complexity DC has given him over the years. With Earth’s Mightiest Mortal as his heroic counterpart, it’d be easy to have Adam conform to some cliched vision of evil, and he’s proven to be much, much more than that. He’ll also be appearing in film form soon, played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, making him an excellent candidate to rise up these rankings a few years from now.

Next: No. 44: A solution, or an even bigger problem?