Warning: This Article Contains Spoilers Regarding Black Adam

The DCEU had a very cohesive path when Man of Steel first kicked off the franchise, but when Zack Snyder bowed out of the franchise partway through the production of Justice League. Since then, there seems to have been no fixed direction for the franchise, but Black Adam has arrived to put that straight and in one move pull together the strands of the fractured DCEU continuity. Dwayne Johnson’s debut as the all-powerful anti-hero features cameos from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker’s Amanda Waller and Emilia Harcourt, played respectively by Amanda Waller and Jennifer Holland, as well as Henry Cavill’s return as Superman.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

This is not the first time some attempt has been made to bring together the DCEU’s unconnected stories, with James Gunn’s Peacemaker featuring a cameo by the Justice League, with Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller appearing in and having dialogue during their scene in the finale of Peacemaker’s first season. Additionally, Shazam! Featured an appearance by a “headless” Superman, which tenuously tied that movie to the universe of the DCEU. However, Black Adam has not only directly linked the previous movies of the franchise, but also sets up a new narrative for where it is now heading.

During the final act of Black Adam, after teasing the existence of the Justice League with some merchandise that appears during a fight between Black Adam and Hawkman in the bedroom of Amon Tomaz, Adam surrenders himself to the JSA and is taken into custody by A.R.G.U.S, the group headed up by Amanda Waller. When he escapes, Adam is advised by Waller that Khandaq is his prison, and if he leaves she will get someone “not of this planet” to handle him. This leads to the appearance of Henry Cavill’s Superman, who tells Adam that they should talk. And with that scene, the future of the DCEU seems to have been set in motion.

Will Black Adam and Superman Fight in the DCEU?

     Warner Bros. Pictures

According to Dwayne Johnson and Black Adam producer Hiram Garcia, Superman and Black Adam will clash in the DCEU, but it will not be a quick one-shot battle. With incoming Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav having already spoken about the DCEU now eyeing a ten year plan to rival that of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it looks like the fight between Black Adam and Superman is going to be told over a number of movies and will form the backbone of what Johnson has referred to as “Phase 1” of the franchise. In response to some of the good reviews of Black Adam, Johnson wrote on his Twitter account last week:

Now that the movie has established that the Snyderverse, Gunnverse, Black Adam and therefore Shazam!, are all part of the same continuity, Warner Bros. will be hoping that they can move on from constant fan complaints about one universe being better/worse than the other. However, even this is not likely to completely quell the calls to “restore the Snyderverse” that still haunt the halls of social media a few times a year.

“This means a lot, thank you so much. [Black Adam] will serve as our phase 1 of storytelling in our DC Universe. Exciting times for the brand to build up and build out.”

Black Adam and all it beings to the DCEU is in theaters now.