What that ‘Black Adam’ end credits scene means for the DC Extended Universe

Warning: The following contains spoilers for “Black Adam.”

In the trailer for “Black Adam,” Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson’s title character fights off all manner of obstacles — manmade and superhuman — and in the end, after seemingly besting all opponents, says, “There’s no power on this planet that can stop me.”

That may be true. But he didn’t mention powers from other planets.

During the “Black Adam” end credits, Krypton’s very own Superman (played by Henry Cavill) makes a dramatic entrance: The Man of Steel descends after Black Adam is visited, via drone, by Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller. The pair’s confrontation with Black Adam is almost a good-cop/bad-cop scenario, as Waller issues a not-so-veiled threat to Black Adam not to leave his home country of Kahndaq, while Superman just wants to talk.

In the comics, Superman and Black Adam have fought multiple times, with varying results, and their onscreen meeting has been highly anticipated by fans of DC’s Extended Universe. This may account for why some early press screenings of the film didn’t include the mid-credits scene, and why Twitter, TikTok and other social media platforms have scrambled to remove spoiler-y leaked videos.

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Johnson positioned Black Adam as more than a villain/antihero in someone else’s story when he pushed for the film to be a solo movie, with a separate origin from Zachary Levi’s Shazam. When he was approached a decade ago with the role, the Rock wasn’t yet the box office draw he has become, but with his world-conquering status and Cavill’s return shedding some light on the future of the Man of Steel, producers seem to like teasing the possibility of a future clash.

DC’s film slate is not as meticulously laid out as Marvel’s phases, but they’ve generated just as much speculation and news over the past few years — mostly due to troubled times. The scuttling of “Batgirl” before its release and “The Flash” actor Ezra Miller’s legal troubles have been top of mind lately.

Next up are two sequels, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.” And now, it seems, DC fans have more Black Adam/Superman crossovers to look forward to.