Now that the film has finally reached the cinema, Black Adam star Aldis Hodge explains that landing his role as Hawkman is the pinnacle of his career achievements for both personal and cultural reasons. The Hawkman Character Gets His First Modernized, 21st-Century Recording Black Adam after living on the sidelines of movie making for decades. Hodge was first cast as Hawkman in September 2020, and after recording the pandemic and right up to its release, the film finally arrived in theaters on October 21.
Hodge’s Hawkman leads the Justice League Society of America against Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam in a movie that features the live-action, big-screen debut of several DC characters, including Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan) and others. The Black Adam The film marks the beginning of a new chapter in the DC Extended Universe, described by Johnson as the new Phase One. Black Adam had DC’s most successful opening night since Aquarius released in 2018 and the film has enjoyed a solid audience rating despite negative critical reception.
While speaking with Vanity Fair, Black Adam star Aldis Hodge reflected on how important landing his role as Hawkman was to him. Hodge explained that as an actor who has been in business since childhood, the cast opposite Dwayne Johnson is the product of an arduous, but rewarding, journey. He also noted that the dedication of his training, which often started at 4 a.m., is matched by the quality of his Hawkman costume. Read Hodge’s comment below:
“To me, it’s symbolic of so much more than just being in a cool movie because of what the suit represents: the hustle, the struggle, the sacrifices, the blood, sweat, and tears, quite literally, that you’re in it, and what it really means outside of me, what it means to the public, to little kids who look like me.”
Why Black Adam’s Hawkman Is A Big Win For Hodge And Movies
The Hawkman character has a complex, elusive backstory that splits into two different canonized directions. Carter Hall, Hawkman’s real identity, is an American archaeologist who was generally depicted in the comic books and movies as a white man, with few exceptions. Hodge will be the first black actor to play Hawkman, reminding audiences that no character has an irreversibly designated race. Hawkman and most other comic book heroes are malleable ideas that can be reshaped by film teams to make a positive impression on the diversity in films and to more accurately portray the reality of the racial makeup of the audience.
DC Comics is in the process of drafting a progressive inclusivity plan, an initiative that Marvel has been accused of falling short of. Black Adam, one of DC’s most anticipated projects of 2022, is spearheaded by a multicultural cast, hailed by Persian actress Sarah Shahi. As both Hodge and Shahi have alluded to, their characters will symbolize the further deconstruction of racial boundaries in the making of movies, especially comic book movies. Hodge has hinted at the possibility of a Hawkman-centered film, which could place him as one of the DCEU’s new primary faces. The public can experience its DCEU debut with Black Adam now in cinemas.
Source: Vanity Fair
