Black Adam revealed its secret villain to San Diego Comic-Con fans only

At every San Diego Comic-Con, fans line up in droves to get a seat in Hall H, because they know they’ll get to lay eyes on stuff that nobody else in the world will see — at least not until the movie or show actually comes out. Today’s Warner Bros. panel was no different: The studio gave a private, quick look at the mysterious, demonic villain of Black Adam.

The new Black Adam trailer that played in Hall H included a stinger that was left absent from its wide release, a quick shot of a hellishly red, horned head rising from some kind of ground or liquid. Pair that with previous leaks of Black Adam merchandize, and we have a good idea of exactly who that head belongs to, on set and off.

[Ed. note: But we’ll put it behind a spoiler jump, just in case you want to wait until Black Adam is released, or there’s a trailer that officially reveals the villain.]

Given Dwayne Johnson’s grumpy demeanor and the way he keeps punching other superheroes in the trailer, you could be forgiven for assuming that he’s playing Black Adam as the villain. But that role seems likely to have actually gone to Marwan Kenzari (from the 2019 live-action Aladdin and Netflix’s The Old Guard), who will play Sabbac.

Who is Sabbac?

Like Black Adam and Billy Batson before him, Sabbac is a mortal being empowered by a number of celestial beings. In the same way SHAZAM represents Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury for Billy; and various Egyptian deities for Black Adam; Sabbac is empowered by, among others, Satan, Belial, Beelzebub, and Asmodeus.

There isn’t much else to say about his sporadic appearances in DC Comics — a few different mortal beings have claimed the powers of Sabbac and battled Shazam, as well as the Outsiders. But here’s an interesting fact: In his classic appearances, his greatest weaknesses were the cowardly natures of the demons who empowered him. Once Billy Batson and his family intimidated those demons enough, they would one by one desert their mortal host, leaving him powerless.

Perhaps that will be Sabbac’s ultimate undoing in Black Adam, and perhaps not. Until the movie comes out and we know for sure, you can find all of Polygon’s coverage of SDCC 2022 news, trailers, and more here.