During an interview to promote her new Netflix series, Sex/Life, Sarah Shahi dropped some interesting news about her role in Black Adam. While touting the film’s efforts to break stereotypical molds for Middle Eastern actors, Shahi revealed that her character will be going up against a classic DC Comics gang whose presence in Black Adam might be unexpected. Via The Hollywood Reporter:
“I play a character named Adrianna, and she’s a freedom fighter that’s leading this big resistance against an evil, malicious group called Intergang.”
Shahi also references how Black Adam hails from the fictional Middle Eastern country of Kahndaq. The comics haven’t always been praised for their handling of representation, but Shahi assures THR that the film’s on point:
“I’m Middle Eastern; I’m Persian. And there’s not a lot of Middle Eastern representation out there… There are other Middle Eastern actors that I know who are either getting cast in terrorist roles or they’re really being stereotyped by how they look. So I’m hoping that, on some level, Black Adam will help break open that stereotype.”
As for Intergang‘s inclusion in the film, the group’s roots go all the way back to the first issues of “New Gods” by comics legend Jack Kirby. The group has been a constant thorn in Superman’s side thanks to being armed with powerful weapons from Apokolips, the death planet ruled by Darkseid. Considering Warner Bros. recently pulled the plug on a New Gods film from Ava DuVernay and shut the door on the version of Darkseid that appeared in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Intergang’s presence in Black Adam is an interesting development.
Could the movie have Black Adam go up against Darkseid? If so, the Lord of Apokolips better be ready, because Darskeid ain’t got nothing on The Rock’s jacked cheeks:
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)