Well, DC is just on a roll now, aren’t they? As if I couldn’t get excited enough already for the upcoming Black Adam movie, some exciting news just dropped. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is playing the titular anti-hero, Black Adam, rightfully so. But who’s he fighting? Not Billy Batson, aka Shazam. In Black Adam’s solo movie, he’ll be taking on the first superhero team in comic book history. Black Adam will be fighting the Justice Society of America, and as far as we know, the team in the movie will consist of four members.
The first actor they brought aboard was Noah Centineo to play Albert Rothstein, aka Atom Smasher. If you watch the Flash show, he was a minor villain in the earlier episodes of season 2. In the comics, however, he’s a noble hero who can alter his size to incredible lengths. Then, and this was the one I was waiting for, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman. Boy, just seeing him on the big-screen excites the heck out of me. I’ll admit, Hodge wasn’t in my top choices list to play the underrated Hawkman, but have you guys seen last year’s The Invisible Man? That dude is seriously jacked. I’m very convinced he’ll play a great Hawkman.
The third member of the DCEU’s JSA is Cyclone, played by Quintessa Swindell. So I’ll admit, out of all the members on this version of the team, Cyclone is the one I am least familiar with. I’m sure she sounds interesting and I can’t wait to see her in action. Now the fourth and final member of the DCEU’s JSA is one that we should all be excited to see. Kent Nelson (there’s more than one), aka Doctor Fate, will be portrayed by James Bond himself in the Black Adam movie. James Bond, you say? Okay, so maybe this guy isn’t the most liked James Bond, but when people hear his name, they will most likely associate him with the most popular fictional spy. That’s right, it’s just been reported that Pierce Brosnan will be playing the Kent Nelson version of Doctor Fate.
Oh boy, now we’re talking about the big guns. First of all, this is very exciting news. And to think, right before this was reported, DC bagged Helen Mirren to be the villain for the Shazam sequel. DC is just going big for their casting decisions, and they very well should be. If they want to compete in the big leagues, I say get the best players on their team. If Helen Mirren wasn’t awesome enough, you got to admit that casting Pierce Brosnan was a win for them. So Doctor Fate was a character I knew was going to be hard to cast. Why? Well, he’s a complicated character, but also a very intriguing one. He’s also immensely powerful.
Okay, and just in case you’re wondering, yes, his name sounds very oddly close to Marvel’s Doctor Strange. Well, that’s because they’re both kind of the same character. If you’re into the whole Marvel vs. DC argument, it’s safe to say that the two characters are carbon copies of each other. For one, they’re both sorcerers. In fact, they’re both the most powerful sorcerers in their universes. Now where do the differences lie? In many areas, the most notable being that Doctor Fate isn’t just one man. Sure, there have been several Sorcerer Supremes before Stephen Strange, but he’s been the most recurring one since his debut. With the case of Doctor Fate, Kent Nelson was the first human to take up the Doctor Fate, mantle, but there have been at least eight people to carry on the title since the character’s been going in DC Comics.
So that alone might not sound like a huge difference, but the truth is, Doctor Fate is truly more powerful than Doctor Strange. Hey, if you don’t believe me, go watch Death Battle. Seriously, it’s super fun to watch. But the thing is, that’s exactly why we should be so excited to see Doctor Fate join the DCEU. He’s a great character with incredible power, and on top of that, he’s got one of the coolest looks in comics. The golden cloak, golden boots, and that really cool golden helmet to top it all off. But that’s odd, Doctor Strange doesn’t wear a helmet, so why does Doctor Fate? Well, there’s actually more to the helmet than you might realize.
The biggest difference between Doctor Fate’s power and that of Doctor Strange is that Strange is the one who had to train and learn magic in order to become the Sorcerer Supreme. Kent Nelson, the original Doctor Fate, on the other hand, stumbled upon the golden helmet with his father when he was young. His father, being an archeologist, took him along on an adventure to find the tomb of the ancient wizard Nabu. He and his son found it, but opening it inadvertently caused Kent’s father to die. Nabu took pity on the young Kent and allowed him to wear the helmet, as well as his mystical amulet and cloak. In that moment, the first Doctor Fate was born.
We’re used to seeing one Doctor Strange, but think of it this way. Stephen Strange wears no helmet, and he replaced the Ancient One as the Sorcerer Supreme. Kent Nelson wasn’t always Doctor Fate. In fact, Stephen Strange trained to become the Sorcerer Supreme and chose the title. The most critical difference between them is that Doctor Strange always trains and tries to learn new spells. Kent Nelson, on the other hand, is essentially a vessel for a much more powerful entity. Heck, Nabu is one of the Lords of Order. Kent Nelson and the other guys who put on the helmet were just Nabu’s ride. Yes, much like Venom and Eddie Brock, except Nabu grants them his powers willingly.
Doctor Fate is much more powerful than Doctor Strange and the story behind his powers is far more complex. More importantly, the reason behind Doctor Fate’s existence is to balance order and chaos. Black Adam wants nothing more than to enforce order and prevent chaos on his home world. Could these two actually become reluctant allies, given their similar ideologies? I can’t wait to see.
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