What does Black Adam mean for the future of DC? Well, following the release of Justice League, the Worlds of DC appeared to undergo its own soft reboot as it was clear what they were doing wasn't working.
Out went the rush to connect every character and in came more standalone efforts. Sure, the likes of Aquaman, Shazam! and Birds of Prey definitely took place in the same universe, but they were solely focused on their main character and not overburdened with needless cameos.
Under the leadership of Walter Hamada, DC Films even expanded into the multiverse with Joker and The Batman, two movies that took place in entirely separate universes. The plan was to have these worlds running concurrently with the potential for crossovers if the story called for it, such as in the upcoming release The Flash.
However, DC has had a shake-up in recent months with some planned projects axed and the already-filmed Batgirl cancelled. Hamada has now left his role (via Deadline) as DC Films reportedly looks for their Kevin Feige-esque leader.
Related: Margot Robbie addresses Lady Gaga playing Harley Quinn in Joker 2
Black Adam suggests that a new direction has been found for the Worlds of DC – only it's more of an old direction.
Ahead of its release, Dwayne Johnson had been calling Black Adam "phase 1 of storytelling in our DC Universe". This could have been taken to mean it was another Joker, with characters residing in their own universe rather than the main DC timeline.
However, it's now clear that the movie does take place in the main timeline as there are numerous crossover appearances. From Shazam!, we get Djimon Hounsou's Shazam and from The Suicide Squad, we get Viola Davis's Amanda Waller and Jennifer Holland's Emilia Harcourt.
These are just the amuse-bouches for the big crossover in the credit scene that marks a big return that DC fans have been craving: Henry Cavill's Superman.
It's the cameos that suggest the Worlds of DC are heading into a more interconnected universe than before. These just didn't happen in the likes of Aquaman and Shazam!, and what's more, it could just be the start. (Superman did technically pop up in Shazam!, but it was as a gag.)
Related: Shazam! 2 director shuts down rumours of reshoots following release date delay
Next year, DC has four movies set for release, and two of them – The Flash (June 23) and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (December 25) – have already been confirmed to feature crossovers from established Worlds of DC stars.
The Flash (assuming it comes out, that is) will bring back Ben Affleck's Batman alongside Michael Keaton's Batman, while Affleck is set to pop up in the Aquaman sequel as well. Now he's established, we'd be surprised if there wasn't at least a credit scene appearance for Black Adam in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, due out March 17.
While he won't be the Kevin Feige of the Worlds of DC, Johnson will certainly have a role to play in the future of the universe too, likely with his production company Seven Bucks Productions.
"The launching of Black Adam is converging with a time where they are also bringing in new leadership at Warner Bros and new leadership on the DC side is soon to be coming in. I feel very confident about the direction of the DC universe," he told The New York Times.
"It is going to require real strategy and real leadership. And that requires us not to look at Marvel's success and say, let's follow that blueprint. That's Marvel. I'm very happy for them. We don't want to be Marvel, in my opinion. We want to be DC and we want to do it our way."
Related: First reactions land for Dwayne Johnson's DC movie Black Adam
We know that The Batman's sequel and spin-offs are in the works and we're also getting Joker: Folie à Deux, so it's not as if DC Films are going to suddenly abandon the idea of a multiverse.
Separate universes will likely continue to exist within the wider Worlds of DC, but the main universe might start building an overarching narrative like the MCU. The increase in cameos in Black Adam also suggests that the chances of crossovers with these other universes, however unlikely, are getting stronger.
We can hopefully be assured that even with Superman's appearance in Black Adam, it's not just the set-up for a rushed battle between the two in the sequel. DC has already learned the hard way that speeding to a team-up like they did with Justice League, doesn't work.
Related: Black Adam credit scene: Delving into that major DC return
"It's never been about a one-off or just about a fight. No, it's about so much more than that," Black Adam producer Hiram Garcia told CinemaBlend.
"We really want to craft a long-form of storytelling and show that these two characters exist in the same universe and are going to have to deal with each other often, either on the same or opposite sides."
The mention of a "long-form of storytelling" raises hopes that DC isn't going to repeat the same mistakes. As much as Johnson might not want to compare DC to Marvel, it wouldn't be a surprise to see a similar approach in the coming films.
Each movie could tell its own self-contained story, just with hints of a bigger story down the line through crossover cameos or even just Easter eggs. It worked well enough for Marvel over the course of The Infinity Saga, so why couldn't it work the same for DC?
Giving the fans what they want doesn't always lead to instant success, but this new direction might well prove that, sometimes, the old ways are the best.
Black Adam is out now in cinemas.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
