Who Is Black Adam’s Love Interest in the Comics?

Developing an interesting love story, or any story in general, for comic book characters is more complicated than developing a soap opera. That is because some comic book characters have been existing for many decades now, and comic book writers always have a tough task of coming up with new stories to keep even the oldest and most legendary characters fresh and interesting for new generations. Black Adam, one of the most known villains/anti-heroes in DC Comics, has been existing for 78 years now, and in this article, we’ll dig into the character’s history to tell you who is Black Adam’s main love interest.

In DC Comics, Black Adam’s main love interest is Adrianna Tomaz, who is also known as Isis. She is depicted as Teth-Adam’s second wife since he was married to a woman named Shiruta during ancient times before he became Black Adam. Similar to Black Adam, Adrianna’s origin story differs between New Earth and Prime Earth continuities, but she’s ultimately depicted as Teth-Adam’s second wife in both of them.

We’ve given you a simple answer now, but it’s important to know that in the DC Comics canon, the character of Isis existed long before Adrianna Tomaz was first introduced. Adrianna Tomaz debuted in the comics in July 2006, but the character of Isis first appeared officially in ‘The Secrets of Isis’ television series in 1975. In the coming paragraphs, we’ll explain the history of both of these characters and how they eventually become one and the same.

The story of Black Adam and Adrianna Tomaz

Teth-Adam, also known as Black Adam, was first introduced as Captain Marvel’s, now known as Shazam, archenemy, who originated from ancient Egypt. He was created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck and debuted in 1945’s ‘The Marvel Family,’ published by Fawcett Comics. Teth-Adam was depicted as the fallen champion of the Wizard Shazam and, therefore, the archenemy of Captain Marvel, the new champion.

In the 1970s, DC Comics acquired the rights to all the characters associated with Captain Marvel/Shazam. Excluding his non-canonical return in 1987, Black Adam debuted in DC’s mainstream continuity, New Earth, in 1994. In the New Earth continuity, Teth-Adam was a young prince and son of Ramses II of Egypt circa 1200 BC. After being blessed with the Black Adam’s powers, he began serving Egypt as a superhero, eventually drawing him away from his wife Shiruta and his sons Gon and Hurut.

The Prime Earth incarnation of Black Adam was introduced in August 2012, with some significant changes in the origin story. Unlike his New Earth counterpart, who was a prince, Teth-Adam from Prime Earth was an enslaved person from Kahndaq who became Black Adam after he killed his nephew Aman who was blessed with Shazam’s powers, and he took the powers for himself.

Despite many differences in the origin story, what both New Earth and Prime Earth Black Adam have in common is that Shiruta was his first wife in both continuities, and Adrianna Tomaz was his second wife.

The character of Isis existed long before Adrianna Tomaz!

Just like Black Adam, the character of Isis originates from ancient Egypt. The character was first introduced as Andrea Thomas, the titular character of ‘The Secrets of Isis’ (or simply ‘Isis’) television series that ran for only two seasons on CBS in 1975 and 1976.

In the series, Joanna Cameron played Andrea Thomas, a high-school teacher who found an artifact known as the Amulet of Hatshepsut. After placing it around her neck and saying: “Oh, Mighty Iris!” she turned into the superheroine of the same name. The character in the series was depicted as a superheroine who serves mankind, but the series was pretty short-lived.

In 2006, a team of writers, which included Geoff Johns and Greg Rucka, created a new version of Isis, named Adrianna Tomaz, into the DC Universe. In the New Earth continuity, she was depicted as an enslaved Egyptian woman and brought to Black Adam as a gift. Adam freed her, and she eventually caused him to change his way of looking at the world. Adam eventually gave her the Amulet of Isis, and they were wed by Captain Marvel.

The New Earth continuity lasted until the ‘Flashpoint’ storyline in 2011, after which it was replaced by Prime Earth, in which, as we said before, the origin stories of many characters, including Black Adam and Adrianna Tomaz, were revised. The Prime Earth Adrianna eventually died defending Khandaq in ‘Shazam!’ Volume 3 #8 in January 2020.

The character of Adrianna Tomaz in other media

After debuting in the television series, Andrea Thomas’ Isis appeared in several DC Comics publications in the late 1970s. Adrianna Tomaz, who debuted in the comics in 2006, made her first live-action appearance in 2022’s ‘Black Adam,’ starring Dwayne Johnson. Sarah Shahi played this version of Adrianna Tomaz, who was depicted as an archaeologist and resistance fighter who freed Black Adam from his tomb.

This incarnation of the character wasn’t depicted as Isis, only as Adrianna Tomaz, and there weren’t any teases about the possible love story between her and Johnson’s Teth-Adam. Maybe they wanted to save that for the sequel, which will never happen due to the movie’s poor critical and commercial results.

Additionally, the television series ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ introduced the character named Zari Tomaz, a variation of the character that has nothing to do with ancient Egypt and Isis, but she possessed the Air Totem and was depicted as a Muslim-American hacker from the future. After the timeline was changed, Zari Tomaz was replaced by Zari Tarazi, who was depicted as a social media influencer. Both of these characters were played by the Iranian-American actress Tala Ashe.

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