Black Adam


 * This article is about the Fighter. For other uses, see Black Adam (Disambiguation).

, also known as Teth-Adam or Theo-Adam, is a Fighter from the DC Universe in MultiVersus. He was revealed on August 15th, 2022 and was released on October 31st, 2022 (originally slated to release a week earlier).

Origin
Black Adam is a character from the DC universe created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck. Although he was originally portrayed as a supervillain and the ancient Egyptian predecessor of Shazam (originally known as Captain Marvel), who fought his way to modern times to challenge the hero alongside his family and associates, he was recently redefined as a corrupted antihero who only tries to clear his name and reputation.

According to the main lead writer for MultiVersus, Black Adam's portrayal in the game is an original interpretation that combines both his New and Prime Earth incarnations, as well as his other depictions from throughout DC media.

Official Biography
"You see the world as a child does. "Good" and "evil" are not constants." "The ruler of Kahndaq bows to no mortal man."

Born in ancient Egypt, Teth-Adam was blessed by the wizard Shazam with the powers of the gods. His long life has been full of pain and trials, and it has hardened him into the stoic, calculating ruler he is today. Adam considers himself to be on no one’s side but his own, which has made him a beguiling on-again/off-again ally of his world’s greatest heroes. But one thing everyone can agree on is that being on Black Adam’s bad side never ends well.

Default Variant
Black Adam's default look seems to be based on his design from the Justice League of America (Volume 3) series of comic books.

Gameplay
Black Adam is a bruiser-type character focused on strong stage control and zoning, while excelling in both close and ranged combat. A couple of his attacks can inflict the shocked debuff on enemies, which causes them to take additional damage.

His most notable ability is his Up Special, which allows him to fly for a limited amount of time; unlike Superman's Air Side Special, Black Adam can move freely in any direction, but the flight will be cancelled if attacks, dodges or if the duration ends. This, when paired with certain perks such as Aerial Acrobat and Triple Jump, gives him one of the best aerial mobilities in the entire game.

Black Adam's ground moveset is filled with utility. His Ground Neutral Attack is his most powerful attack, capable of ringing out opponents around 80% near the ledge; this comes at the expense of having a significantly small hitbox, as well high ending lag. His Side Ground Attack is a flurry of punches, with the final hit grabbing the opponent and tossing them behind Black Adam; if properly used, the player can spike opponents when facing the opposite side of the ledge. His Up Ground Attack is notable as it has a very long range and can lead to a couple of his confirms, at the expense of a relatively lengthy cooldown. Lastly, his Down Ground Attack is unique as it hits all grounded opponents no matter how far they are, and the longer the attack is charged, the larger the hitbox is; this attack even hits opponents sliding on the ledge, being a powerful edgeguarding tool.

To offset Black Adam's powerful moveset, a lot of his attacks have low knockback scaling, meaning they lack proper power to ring out opponents effectively. In addition, a couple of his most powerful moves have high ending lag and cannot be frame cancelled earlier. Because of that, Black Adam gets most of his confirms with sweetspotted Down Air Attacks, and more intricate combos that can put opponents right on his palm. His high skill ceiling makes him not very beginner friendly, even though his skill floor is relatively low.

In 2v2, Black Adam finds the best in allies that can keep up with his mobility and capitalize on his intricate moveset to follow up his attacks. Given Black Adam's lack of easy guaranteed ring outs, he shines when paired with characters that have potent finishers, such as Shaggy, Bugs Bunny and Taz. On the other hand, given his ability to fly, he works exceptionally well when paired with jugglers that can easily carry opponents to the upper blast zone, such as Arya Stark and Harley Quinn.

Trivia

 * While Black Adam and Stripe's official reveal was on the loading screen at the start of Season 1 on August 15th, 2022, an advertisement promoting said Season was published earlier on the Xbox dashboard, revealing Adam and Stripe prematurely.
 * According to a WB UK email promoting the Black Adam movie, he was originally set to release on October 25th, 2022, before getting delayed for unknown reasons.
 * Black Adam's Gameplay Trailer ends with an advertisement for the movie mentioned above, which debuted before Adam joined MultiVersus.
 * Black Adam is the only Fighter in the game that will swear via a Substitute Variant if the "Mature Language" option is turned on in the Settings, but won't do so in his own default appearance.

External

 * Teth-Adam (Prime Earth) and Teth-Adam (New Earth) on the DC Database.