The Subtle Black Adam Connection You Didn't Notice In Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman 1984 takes place in a number of real world locations, and a handful of fictional ones. One particular fictional location introduced in the new film has important relevance for another DC character set to join the DCEU: Black Adam. Since Dwayne Johnson is presently bulking up to play Black Adam, there's a real possibility that this Middle-Eastern location may become relevant again in the near future.

After Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) takes on the powers of the Dreamstone (he basically becomes a human monkey's paw) in WW84, he heads to Egypt. There he meets a powerful oil baron named Emir Said Bin Abydos (Amir Waked). Lord wants Emir's oil and, in exchange, offers a wish for anything Emir's heart desires. Emir wishes for "All of my land to be returned. My ancestral realm, the Bialyan Dynasty." Emir also wishes for anyone who isn't a part of his dynasty to never find purchase on its soil again. Emir's wish triggers a giant wall to be magically erected around what was once Bialya. This causes no end of chaos.

In the real world, there is no Bialyan Dynasty. However, in the pages of DC comics, that location is an important one in the mythology of Black Adam, and not in a happy way.

Even before Black Adam shows up, Bialya is not exactly the happiest place on Earth. For a time, Bialya was run as a military state by Colonel Rymaan Harjavti. Like most military-led nations, Bialya struggled with poverty and political upheaval. This issue was corrected when a woman named Queen Bee came into power. She had Harjavti killed and turned Bialya into a paradise where its citizens all had jobs and healthcare. There was just one catch — people who came to Bialya were implanted with a device which increases endorphins when a person is in Bialya. Those same endorphins go back down when people leave, thus creating a kind of addiction to Bialya. It's all very Brave New World.

All of that is just a prologue for Black Adam's involvement. The thing to know about Black Adam is that he is a very angry guy. One of the things that makes Black Adam the angriest is the fact that both his wife Adrianna and his brother-in-law Amon were killed by Azraeuz, the last of the Four Horsemen of the Apokolips.

Bad news for the residents of Bialya: Azraeuz fled there and Black Adam gave chase. In the process of tracking down his wife's murderer to get his revenge, Black Adam murders two million people in Bialya. I that sounds terrible, the fallout is even worse. The spirits of the Four Horsemen take on human hosts in Bialya and, to rebuild their strength, they slaughter thousands of Bialyans and enslave the remainder.

In short: The Bialyan Empire may not have had much luck with Max Lord's magical wall, but they might be in for a lot worse when Black Adam finds its way to theaters.