We are gathered here once again to give commentary on this week’s wrestling related homework from the At Odds with Wrestling podcast. This week the Wheel of Rock was spun once again and it landed on, Black Adam.

I have seen this movie before, as my son and I have gone through most of the DC comics related movies whether they be in theater, direct to DVD, live action, or animated. We have had many discussions over which ones are our favorites and ranked them over and over again. Black Adam was, is, and always will be a solid middle of the pack movie.

Which is a shame, because there are some interesting ideas in here. But none of them land. There’s a lot of potential for something interesting and whether it be the fault of writers, actors, or directors, those interesting ideas never came together and there is an overall lack of fulfillment after watching the movie.

It’s ironic that I’m writing this today after Marvel took over five hours to show all of the actor names that will be filming Avengers: Doomsday. While Marvel movies and TV shows have varying degrees of success, they never fail to create excitement. Shang Chi was four years ago but I was still excited to see Simu Liu’s name on a chair. That feeling is not going to come from seeing, for example, Ezra Miller in Black Adam or Pierce Bronson or even the Rock listed for a future DC related movie.

This movie starts with far too much exposition and that doesn’t stop. Black Adam is intertwined with Shazam but the Rock wanted to go after Superman so all of that is moved to the side. The Justice Society celebrates the rich legacy of DC heroes throughout generations but that’s a tough concept to get across in one movie that has no ties to past DC movies. Hell, even if they wanted to double down on a middle Eastern hero saving his country from outside (American) forces and really take a risk, that would be a hell of a thing to try in a superhero movie. But, alas, no.

Black Adam exists in between two eras. The original DC movie universe and this new upcoming James Gunn fronted era. Yet Adam belongs to neither. There are many reasons for this and plenty of blame to throw around, but in the end it comes down to the team.

No, not the Justice Society.

There are a team of writers and artists, actors and directors, who existed before this movie. They told stories of Black Adam, and Shazam, and Captain Marvel in the comics for decades beforehand. There were DC live action movies before this one, stand alone and parts of a shared universe. There are also many many cartoon series and movies exploring these characters. And all of that work, that team, was ignored because someone wanted to be the star. There’s only one Big Cheese connected to Black Adam, and it’s not the Rock, it’s Captain Marvel.

I truly believe the Rock wanted to play Superman, and was shut down for that. Shazam wasn’t an option. He wanted to play a Superman type character and landed on Black Adam, but didn’t care about not only the history of the character but about DC at all. The Rock probably would have been fine with no other super heroes in the movie or ones created just for this film.

These are reasons why ultimately the movie is just okay. It’s not awful but there’s no passion, no reason to go back and watch it again. Despite previous plans and long term storytelling that continues for years, the Rock is going to do what he wants. And that doesn’t leave me wanting more.