In a seismic pivot for the rebooted DC Universe, Black Adam vs Superman (2025) explodes onto screens as the long-teased clash of anti-hero and icon, reimagining Dwayne Johnson’s Kahndaqi powerhouse against David Corenswet’s earnest Man of Steel in a standalone epic that bridges old wounds and new horizons. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra—helming his first DC tentpole post-Black Adam—this 140-minute spectacle (rated PG-13 for epic battles, thematic intensity, and fleeting sensuality) fuses mythic lore with street-level stakes, raking in $680 million on opening weekend alone. Co-scripted by Adam Sztykiel and Christina Hodson, with James Gunn’s blessing as an “Elseworlds” outlier, the film dodges canon constraints to deliver raw spectacle, earning raves for its practical effects and a Hans Zimmer score that thunders like thunder gods at war—already tipped for Oscar gold in sound design.

The narrative ignites in a fractured Metropolis, where Black Adam (Johnson, bulkier and broodier than ever, his hieroglyphic tattoos pulsing with arcane fury) crash-lands after a botched interdimensional rift from Kahndaq’s eternal war. No longer the isolated liberator, Adam seeks an ancient amulet said to “balance the scales” of power, only to unearth a conspiracy: Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult, slimy and cerebral, channeling a tech-augmented mad genius) has weaponized Kryptonian crystals to siphon Superman’s solar essence, turning the City of Tomorrow into a crystalline graveyard. Enter Corenswet’s Clark Kent/Superman, a post-Superman iteration that’s equal parts farm-boy humility and unyielding hope, his cape a beacon amid the chaos. Their first encounter isn’t fists-first—Adam, mistaking Supes for Luthor’s pawn, delivers a lightning-laced warning shot that levels a skyline, forcing an uneasy truce. But as Luthor’s “Eternium Sentinels”—drone swarms laced with Adam’s weakness mineral—hunt them both, the titans’ philosophies collide: Adam’s brutal justice versus Superman’s redemptive faith.

Rachel Brosnahan shines as Lois Lane, a tenacious Daily Planet reporter whose investigative grit uncovers Luthor’s plot, her banter with Corenswet crackling with rom-com warmth amid the rubble. Quintessa Swindell returns as Cyclone, Adam’s JSA ally turned reluctant mediator, while Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman soars in aerial dogfights that blend Wonder Woman 1984 flair with Top Gun: Maverick precision. Newcomer Sofia Boutella steals scenes as Isis, Adam’s resurrected queen and moral compass, her sorcery weaving spells that counter Luthor’s tech in balletic, fire-and-light displays. Hoult’s Luthor, however, is the venomous heart—a Silicon Valley sociopath whose monologues on “evolved tyranny” blur the line between villain and visionary, forcing Adam and Superman to question their own gods.

Collet-Serra’s direction pulses with kinetic fury: a zero-gravity brawl inside a collapsing Fortress of Solitude, where Adam’s lightning clashes against heat vision in crystalline fractals; a Metropolis chase fusing The Dark Knight grit with Man of Steel‘s scale, Sentinels exploding in slow-mo cascades. Lawrence Sher’s cinematography captures the duel in IMAX glory—golden Kahndaqi sands bleeding into steel-blue skies—while Weta Digital’s VFX grounds the gods in tangible destruction, no green-screen haze. Zimmer’s opus evolves John Williams’ motif into a symphonic storm, brass swells underscoring Adam’s rage and strings lifting Superman’s resolve.

At its core, Black Adam vs Superman transcends slugfest tropes, probing power’s corrupting toll and heroism’s fragile humanity. Their climactic rooftop reckoning—fists blurring at Mach speeds, quips flying like shrapnel—ends not in death but détente, Adam conceding, “Your light blinds even shadows.” A stinger teases the Justice Society’s multiversal expansion, hinting at JSA crossovers sans full reboot ties.

This isn’t fan service; it’s a thunderclap reckoning, proving DC’s gods can evolve without crumbling. Whether you’re mourning Cavill’s what-if or embracing Corenswet’s dawn, Black Adam vs Superman soars—truth, justice, and a thunderous punch for all.