Teth-Adam, also known as Theo-Adam and better known as Black Adam, is a Fighter from the DCUniverse in MultiVersus. He was revealed on August 15th, 2022 and was released on October 31st, 2022 (originally slated to release a week earlier), during the Open Beta period.
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.
Official Biography
The ruler of Kahndaq bows to no mortal man.
Website
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.[2]
In-Game
The ruler of Kahndaq, Black Adam is perfectly equipped to keep control of the battlefield with his aerial mobility and mastery over lightning itself.
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.
Black Adam as seen on the cover for Justice League of America (Volume 3) #7.4: Black Adam.
Lore
According to Eric Stirpē, the main lead writer for MultiVersus, all Fighters from the DC universe in the game are original interpretations that take inspiration from various incarnations without adhering to any adaptation in particular.[3]
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.
Skills
ATTACKS
GROUND
AIR
SIDE HOLD 🡆 + J
THE MIGHT OF ATON Black Adam flies forwards, tackling and KNOCKING BACK enemies in front of him.
NEUTRAL J
LIGHTNING SURGE Black Adam unleashes a surge of electric power that launches enemies horizontally and applies SHOCKED. Hitting Allies with this move ELECTRIFIES them, causing their next MELEE attack to apply SHOCKED to its target.
THUNDER CLAP Black Adam CHARGES a clap that produces a shockwave which BREAKS ARMOR.
SIDE 🡆 + J
MIGHT OF KAHNDAQ A COMBO of punches ending in a GRAB that holds enemies high above Black Adam's head before slamming them into the ground behind him.
SOARING RAGE Black Adam performs a jab and an uppercut.
UP 🡅 + J
CALL THE HEAVENS Black Adam pulls his hands apart, generating an arc of electricity above himself that can hit enemies multiple times. Summons lightning down from the sky above Black Adam. COOLDOWN applies to the lightning.
ARC LIGHTNING Similar to ground, but does not summon lightning.
DOWN 🡇 + J
GROUNDED BLAST Black Adam slams a burst of electricity into the ground that emerges moments later, striking all grounded enemies. The burst can also emerge from WALLS if an enemy is nearby. Black Adam can CHARGE the slam to force it to emerge faster and increase its size and power. AMMO applies.
FLYING ROUNDHOUSE Black Adam CHARGES a roundhouse kick. The end of the kick has a SWEETSPOT that launches enemies in the opposing direction.
SPECIALS
GROUND
AIR
NEUTRAL K
ATON'S HAVOC Black Adam releases a beam of lightning to GRAB enemies, damaging them repeatedly and applying SHOCKED before tossing them either up or down. When the lightning hits a target, it searches for nearby targets, jumping to them to repeat the move in a chain of electric attacks. CHARGING the attack extends the length the lightning will travel. The lightning can be angled up or down slightly on release. Allies will extend the chain and become ELECTRIFIED, but will not be GRABBED. HEAVY PROJECTILES will extend the chain and become temporarily STOPPED, all other PROJECTILES will simply be destroyed. COOLDOWN applies.
MEHEN'S BLESSING Black Adam uses static in the air to redirect all active PROJECTILES that can be REFLECTED towards him. He and allies can REFLECT these PROJECTILES by striking them. COOLDOWN applies.
SIDE 🡆 + K
ZEHUTI'S FORESIGHT Black Adam dashes forward and is chased moments later by a bolt PROJECTILE. This bolt will REFLECT off the forcefield generated by Black Adam's Grounded Down Special. AMMO applies to the bolt.
ZEHUTI'S VISION Same as ground.
UP 🡅 + K
HERU'S FLIGHT Black Adam briefly gains the ability to fly in any direction.
HERU'S RECOVERY Same as ground.
DOWN 🡇 + K
SHU'S PROTECTION Black Adam generates an electromagnetic forcefield that pushes enemies away and BLOCKS enemy PROJECTILES and HEAVY PROJECTILES from entering. The forcefield expires after a brief period or once it has taken enough hits. COOLDOWN applies.
AMON'S WRATH Black Adam hurls two short-range electric PROJECTILES diagonally downward in rapid succession.
Developer’s Note: Black Adam’s Ground Neutral Special threatened opponents from too far away and when it hit, it was causing too much damage. Black Adam’s ground up attack was also extremely safe, while having the ability to lead into significant follow-up damage. In order to address some of these issues, we are attempting to bring these two attacks back in-line with the following changes so that they feel less oppressive and more fair to fight against.
Black Adam was a playable fighter in the Open Beta.
August 15 2022
Black Adam was revealed to be a playable fighter in MultiVersus.
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.[4]
Black Adam's Gameplay Trailer ends with an advertisement for the movie mentioned above, which debuted before Adam joined MultiVersus.
