Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Black Adam
Black Adamtakes us five thousand years into the past of the DC Extended Universe to explain how Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson) stole his power from the Council of Wizards. Teth-Adam was not the Champion chosen by the Wizards and got his powers passed on to him by his son, Hurut (Jalon Christian). Consumed by his rage after the death of his son and incapable of controlling his powers, Teth-Adam almost destroys Kahndaq, which leads the Council of Wizards to imprison him until he is freed in the present. However, just a few moments after leaving his prison, Teth-Adam is already capable of speaking and understanding English. We doubt he spent five thousand years studying languages in his cell, so how did Black Adam learn English so fast? There’s a perfectly good explanation for this.
Every Champion chosen by the Council of Wizards is granted powers from great heroes and gods of old. Billy Batson (Asher Angel/Zachary Levi), for instance, gets the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. As for Black Adam, he has the stamina of Shu, the swiftness of Heru, the strength of Amon, the wisdom of Zehuti, the power of Aton, and the courage of Mehen. Yes, both their powers collection spell S.H.A.Z.A.M., the magic word they use to activate or give away their powers.
Zehuti’s Wisdom Allows Black Adam to Learn English So Quickly
In Black Adam’s case, the wisdom of Zehuti is what allows him to speak English so fast. For those curious, Zehuti – also known as Tehuti ou Thot – is the Egyptian god of magic, knowledge, and art. So, by channeling the powers of Zehuti, Teth-Adam can actually learn any language he wants. That’s also why Teth-Adam unlearns English when he decides to speak his magic word and lock away his powers.
During an interview with Collider’sSteven Weintraub, producersHiram GarciaandBeau Flynnalso confirm that Zehuti is why Black Adam learns English so fast. As Garcia tells us:
“He’s got the Wisdom of Zehuti, so he’s got the wisdom of the Gods. So he can speak all languages, but that’s why you’ll notice when he does turn back to Teth-Adam, he only speaks Khandaq’i. He doesn’t know English or anything like that. That was a very specific reason of why when he’s kind of converted back to himself, he doesn’t speak like that. But the reason why he’s able to instantly learn languages is he’s got the wisdom of a God. So he’s able to speak multiple languages, so forth.”
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Initially, there was a line inBlack Adamto explain his powers, but the scene was cut as theproducers tried to trim down the movie’s runtime. In Garcia’s words:
“At one point we had a couple of moments where he alluded to it, but as you’re cutting a movie and as you’re shaving time off and so forth, unfortunately things like that get cut. But then you speak to the producers and then we give you the nerdy friend. We did at one point have that line.”
So there we have it. Black Adam learns English immediately because his powers allow him to. In this instance, a character speaking English is not just a convenience, but it connects to the antihero’s comic book history.
