Black Adam is incredibly powerful, but Superman has already killed him, and Wonder Woman, Shazam, and other heroes also stand a fair chance to kill him.
Black Adam has a complicated history, with his origin being from the wizard Shazam in ancient Egypt and modern iterations with Theo Adam, who is a descendant.
This complicated history also means that Black Adam is one of the most powerful beings in the universe and that he is difficult to kill. However, there are heroes who have already killed him or who stand a good chance of killing him if they want to.
Black Adam’s history
The most important individuals to focus on in Black Adam’s history are Teth-Adam and Theo Adam. Teth-Adam was the Egyptian son of Pharaoh Ramses II, who impressed the wizard Shazam and was granted the ability to become a superhuman, called Mighty Adam.
However, Teth-Adam was later corrupted by Blaze, and when he finally went rogue to become Black Adam – Shazam stripped him of all of his abilities.
His unwitting descendant, Theo Adam, then later stumbled upon the tomb with the scarab where the original Black Adam’s powers had been stored by Shazam, and he claimed these powers for himself.
Who can kill Black Adam?
Since Black Adam’s history is so complicated, his sources of power are too. In the New 52, Black Adam mirrors Shazam, in that his powers come from the Greek gods.
However, in some of the other DC continuities, the sources of his powers are the Egyptian gods. Regardless, it is important to understand that Black Adam basically has the same powers that Shazam has, but he has a more ruthless and brutal fighting style.
However, with this amount of power also come some weaknesses, such as that if Black Adam says the word “Shazam” he will be turned back into a regular human.
When you take all of this into account, it is clear that Black Adam is not only one of the most powerful characters in the DC continuity, but also in the entire Marvel universe.
However, when it comes to heroes who can kill this anti-villain, it is clear from the “Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam” short films that Superman and Captain Marvel were able to defeat Black Adam when they worked together.
It is also clear from their short fight in “Dark Nights: Metal” that Wonder Woman would be able to beat Black Adam, much like Shazam would, if they were to battle one-on-one. There are also some heroes from the Marvel universe that have a good chance of killing Black Adam.
How did Superman and Captain Marvel work together to kill Black Adam?
The most obvious example of Black Adam being killed can be seen in the Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam animated short film.
Here, Superman is the only hero left to protect humanity and Billy Batson has been granted the Captain Marvel powers by the wizard, Shazam.
In this short film, it initially seems like Black Adam has the upper hand when he is fighting against Superman, but when Captain Marvel joined in on the fight, they were able to overpower Black Adam completely.
Later during the fight, they tricked Black Adam into saying “Shazam” which causes him to turn back into Teth-Adam. Since Teth-Adam does not have the same superhuman powers that Black Adam has, his age catches up with him and he turns to dust.
Would Wonder Woman be able to kill Black Adam?
In the fifth issue of Dark Nights: Metal, there is a brief one-on-one fight between Wonder Woman and Black Adam.
During this fight, it is clear that although Black Adam is a ruthless fighter, Wonder Woman’s clever and tactical fighting style can overpower Black Adam quickly to gain the upper hand.
Although Wonder Woman does not kill Black Adam during this fight, it is clear that she could have, similarly to how it is clear from “Black Adam: Year of the Villain” that Shazam can kill Black Adam, but he just chooses not to do this.
Marvel heroes that could kill Black Adam
Although the above examples of heroes that have defeated Black Adam are obvious answers to who could kill him, some of the less obvious answers include heroes from the Marvel universe which could theoretically kill Black Adam under the right conditions, namely:
| Heroes that could kill Black Adam | What the right circumstance would be |
| Vision | Vision could use his density controlling abilities to tire Black Adam out and increase the effectiveness of his own blows |
| Thor | Thor has the upper hand against Black Adam because he is a god, not just a superhuman |