BLACK ADAM Casts Aldis Hodge as Hawkman

Black Adam has its Winged Warrior.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, actor Aldis Hodge is in final negotiations to play Hawkman/Carter Hall in the upcoming DC Extended Universe film Black Adam, based on the DC Comics antihero.

Hodge will join Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam and Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, with other Justice Society of America members Doctor Fate and Cyclone yet to be cast.  Jaume Collet-Serra will direct the film, based on a script by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani.

Hodge, 34, is probably best known as Alec Hardison on the TNT series Leverage, MC Ren in the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton, and Levi Jackson in the 2016 film Hidden Figures.  His other films include The Invisible Man (2020), What Men Want, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Die Hard with a Vengeance, A Good Day to Die Hard, Happy Feet, and Big Momma's House.  He recently appeared as Craft in the Star Trek: Short Treks mini-episode "Calypso", and has appeared in episodes of City on a Hill, Black Mirror, The Blacklist, The Walking Dead, Castle, Friday Night Lights, Charmed (2002), Boston Public, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Created in 1940 by Gardner Fox as Dennis Neville, Hawkman first appeared in Flash Comics #1 as Carter Hall, a reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian prince Khufu.  In the days of ancient Egypt, Khufu was engaged in a feud with his rival, the Egyptian priest Hath-Set.  The priest eventually captured both Khufu and his consort Chay-Ara, and killed them using a cursed dagger of Nth metal.  Millennia later, in 1940, Khufu was reincarnated as American archaeologist Carter Hall, Chay-Ara as Shiera Saunders, and Hath-Set as scientist Anton Hastor.  After touching the same Nth Metal dagger used to kill Khufu, Carter regained the memories of his former life and realized Hastor was the reincarnation of his ancient foe.  When Hastor kidnapped Shiera, using a magic spell to draw her to his lair, Hall used his newly-refound memories to craft a gravity-defying belt using Nth metal and a winged costume to become Hawkman.  Carter successfully rescued Shiera and Anton was killed by electrocution.  Hawkman was a charter member of the Justice Society of America, and became the JSA's chairman.  Shiera later became the crimefighter Hawkgirl.  

Due to a series of reinventions of the character, some writers have attempted to integrate Carter Hall and Katar Hol, another version of Hawkman created in the 1960s, who was a police officer from the planet Thanagar and joined the Justice League of America.  They linked the Thanagarian aliens to the Egyptian curse that causes Hawkman to reincarnate periodically throughout human history, or used Carter Hall as Katar Hol's alias, or depicted the merger of Carter and Katar into one being.

In his most recent reinvention, Carter Hall has discovered that in addition to reincarnating over time on Earth, he has also lived multiple lives on alien worlds, and on at least one occasion, two or more of his reincarnations have existed simultaneously.  The other lives revealed were Katar Hol of Thanagar, Catar-Ol of Krypton, Golden Hawk (a legendary hero of an unnamed planet destroyed by Deathbringers), Avion (an ancient hero of the Microverse), The Dragon of Barabatos, Airwing of New Genesis, Katarthul of Rann, Red Harrier, and Sky Tyrant of Earth-3.  His other lives throughout Earth's history include Prince Khufu, Silent Knight (a medieval hero), Birdman of the Easter Islands, Nighthawk (a gunslinging western hero), and Carter Hall, the Golden-Age version from World War II who was a member of the Justice Society of America.

Hodge will be the fourth actor to portray Hawkman in live action, after Bill Nuckols in the Legends of the Superheroes TV specials, Michael Shanks on the TV series Smallville, and Falk Hentschel on the TV series The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow.  In addition, the character has appeared in various animated projects, including The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure (voiced by Vic Perrin), the various Super Friends shows (voiced by Jack Angel), Justice League Unlimited (voiced by James Remar), The Batman (voiced by Robert Patrick), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (voiced by William Katt), Justice League Action (voiced by Troy Baker), and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (voiced by Michael Gough).

Black Adam is due to begin production in spring of 2021.