This article contains minor spoilers for Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #5!
If there's one hero suited to lording it over a post-apocalyptic world, it's DC's godlike antihero tapped into with its Old Lady Harley. Now, as DC teases fans with the idea of 'Old Man Black Adam,' it's an idea the publisher really needs to deliver on.
Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes is the story of the Justice League and the Legion both becoming displaced in time as they face off against a mysterious threat stretching across time and space. While it has led to plenty of time-traveling fun, with the Justice League and Legion becoming trapped within each other's centuries, it has also caused age changes in several characters, among them Green Arrow, one of Triplicate Girl's constituent bodies, and Black Adam, who has aged significantly.
As the Justice League and Legion of Super-Heroes try to figure out what's happening, Batman demands that version of this for Black Adam, with the antihero becoming an influential hero and founding a utopian colony in the far, far future.
While it was fascinating to see this potential 'happy ending' for Black Adam, the core of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's Old Man Logan is a single hero taking on a broken world. This kind of concept would fit DC's adult-oriented Black Label imprint perfectly (Wonder Woman: Dead Earth put Diana through something similar), to the point that it feels like Bendis - who penned both the 2015 Old Man Logan follow-up series and Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes - is challenging DC to pick up the creative gauntlet. Indeed, Black Adam's long white beard has a similarity to the original version of the wizard who gave he and Shazam their powers, suggesting the potential for a cyclical story where Black Adam somehow creates his heroic arch-nemesis.
As of now, there's no suggestion an Old Man Black Adam story is in the works, but DC Comics has a phenomenal premise available to them - one now lodged in fans' minds due to this subtle reference. Black Adam's arrogance and need for control make him the perfect character to challenge with a hopeless world, especially as he's dedicated to protecting the nation of Kahndaq rather than the entire planet. DC's Black Label is the perfect place for a mature, out-of-continuity story starring Black Adam, and the phrase "Old Man Black Adam" is a pitch in and of itself.
