Dwayne Johnson's BLACK ADAM Was Initially Slapped with an R-Rating

It turns out that when the first cut of Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam was submitted to the MPAA, they ended up slapping it with an R-rating. The goal was obviously PG-13, but they wanted to push the limits as much as they could with Black Adam’s ruthlessness. They were ultimately forced to make some tweaks to the film to get that PG-13 rating.

During a recent interview with Collider, Black Adam producers Beau Flynn and Hiram Garcia confirmed that the movie was originally rated R. Garcia explained:

“We really wanted to make sure that we honored the character of Black Adam. One of the things he’s known for is his aggression and violence, and to do a Black Adam movie that didn’t have that just wouldn’t have been authentic. So we always went into this knowing that we were going to push it as far as we did. We knew it was going to be a collaborative process with the MPAA to finally get it to where we were able, to get that rating, but we were able to pull it off. But it was really important for us to do that. And that’s something Dwayne was very committed to as well.”

Flynn went on to reveal that it took “four rounds” with the MPAA review board before they finally granted its PG-13 rating. So, unfortunately, some cool and brutal action scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor that we may never get to see. Flynn said:

“We did have to make a lot of edits, actually. There are some personal moments that we really love, but we had to let them go. But we never compromised, we never had to cut a scene. We had some really cool moments, and if you notice, there are some great moments when Black Adam is in the fly bike chase sequence and drops one of the intergang soldiers. Then there’s this great moment where the truck bounces over the body. But those are moments that you need and remember in these movies, you know what I mean? You can’t play it safe, and you have to go for it. And I think we have four or five of those. At one point we had about ten, and we were able to find some compromise with the MPAA on that.”

In the film, “In ancient Kahndaq, Teth Adam was bestowed the almighty powers of the gods. After using these powers for vengeance, he was imprisoned, becoming Black Adam. Nearly 5,000 years have passed and Black Adam has gone from man, to myth, to legend. Now released, his unique form of justice, born out of rage, is challenged by modern day heroes who form the Justice Society: Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Atom Smasher and Cyclone.”

Black Adam also stars Noah Centineo (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Charlie's Angels) as Atom Smasher; Quintessa Swindell (Trinkets, Euphoria) as Cyclone; as well as Sarah Shahi (Person of Interest, The L Word), Marwan Kenzari (The Old Guard, Aladdin), and Uli Latukefu (Young Rock), who have been cast in unspecified roles.

Jaume Collet-Serra (Jungle Cruise) is directing Black Adam, from the most recent script, written by Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. Adam Sztykiel wrote the previous draft.

Black Adam is set to hit theaters on October 21st, 2022.