Who Is Isis/Black Adam’s Adrianna Tomaz?

This month, the DC quality Adrianna Tomaz, sometimes known arsenic Isis, makes her cinematic debut successful Black Adam, wherever she’s played by Sarah Shahi. Isis has an antithetic history, with a unsocial way from the tiny surface to the comics and backmost to the tiny screen, and yet to the large screen. On the 1 hand, she’s a reasonably obscure character. On the other, she’s 1 of the astir groundbreaking pistillate characters successful superherodom. Why the contradiction? Let’s instrumentality a look!

If I didn’t archer you this was the 70s, you’d inactive beryllium capable to tell, right?

The archetypal mentation of Isis debuted not successful comics, but connected tv — and successful her ain show, nary less! Specifically, she starred successful Isis (renamed The Secrets of Isis for syndication). This was a spinoff of Shazam!, a fractional hr Saturday greeting amusement starring Captain Marvel that started successful 1974. (These days he’s known arsenic Shazam, with nary narration to the Marvel quality played by Brie Larson. You tin work astir the tumultuous ineligible past of Captain Marvel/Shazam here.) Within a year, the amusement was fashionable capable that it was expanded into The Shazam!/Isis Hour, with the 2nd fractional hr dedicated to Isis. Her 1975 debut means she predates some The Bionic Woman and Wonder Woman (both 1976), making her the archetypal unrecorded enactment pistillate superhero to header her ain show. Not excessively shabby!

Isis, played by Joanna Cameron, is secretly Andrea Thomas, an mean precocious schoolhouse teacher who finds a mystical amulet connected a excavation successful Egypt. You know, the benignant precocious schoolhouse teachers spell on. Luckily, Andrea conscionable truthful happens to beryllium a descendant of the pharaoh Hatshepsut, which means that the amulet grants her superpowers erstwhile she speaks the magic words “Oh mighty Isis.”

Obviously determination is simply a glaring occupation here, which is the accustomed Hollywood 1 of a achromatic woman playing idiosyncratic who is expected to beryllium Egyptian (albeit respective millennia removed…but still). But I inactive deliberation it’s worthy pointing retired that determination was a TV amusement starring a pistillate superhero that predates Wonder Woman that…no 1 talks about? Basically ever?

This mentation of Isis got her ain tie-in comic successful 1976, which ran for 8 issues implicit 2 years; she besides appeared successful Shazam!, Captain Marvel’s comic. She wasn’t different incorporated into the DC universe, which makes sense. At the time, the Captain Marvel characters were lone licensed by DC, and they existed successful their ain universe, abstracted from the main DCU. They were folded into the DCU successful 1985’s Crisis connected Infinite Earths (and DC acquired the afloat rights to the characters successful 1981), but by past Isis’s bid was agelong canceled. Also, Universal Television owns that mentation of the character, not DC, since she debuted connected TV first. (This is wherefore Marvel rushed She-Hulk into comics astir the aforesaid time, earlier the Incredible Hulk TV amusement producers could invent her.)

TV Isis’s powers are delightfully random.

Isis languished successful obscurity until 2006’s 52 maxiseries, erstwhile DC introduced a heavy revised mentation of the character. The updated Isis is an Egyptian pistillate named Adrianna Tomaz (in a chapeau extremity to the TV version), who is enslaved and fixed arsenic a acquisition to Black Adam, who astatine that clip was the ruler of the fictional federation of Kahndaq. Black Adam, who for each his faults is not a instrumentality of slavery, promptly frees Adrianna and kills her enslaver. Then, successful a classical romance trope, erstwhile helium discovers that she’s unafraid to archer him precisely what his failings are arsenic a ruler and man, helium promptly falls successful emotion with her. It’s genuinely beauteous great.

Still bittersweet astir their tragic romance 16 years later, tbh.

Adam asks Captain Marvel to bequeath powers connected Adrianna, utilizing a mentation of the Hatshepsut amulet, and Billy agrees. The recently empowered Isis has akin powers to Adam’s, arsenic good arsenic healing and quality powers (flowers bloom erstwhile she’s happy, etc.). Black Adam and Isis past rescue Adrianna’s younger member Amon from slavery and assistance him powers arsenic well, turning him into the superhero Osiris. For an each excessively little time, the 3 are blessed together, utilizing their powers for the bully of Kahndaq and the world.

…But we’re talking comics successful the precocious 2000s, truthful I’m atrocious to archer you it each ends horrifically. Like, I don’t adjacent privation to picture it. Let’s conscionable accidental that cannibalism is the least triggering of the atrocities that ensue and permission it astatine that, okay?

I miss you, you silly clip question show.

Isis had a comparatively tiny relation successful the 2011 New 52 reboot, but a caller mentation of her returned to tv successful 2017, successful Seasons 3-7 of Legends of Tomorrow. Zari Tomaz (played by Tala Ashe) is simply a Muslim hacktivist from a dystopian near-future, with nary transportation to the Shazam family; she does person a hereditary magic amulet, but it gives her upwind powers and not the different suite of powers her comics counterpart has. She besides does not spell by “Isis,” due to the fact that by past the militant enactment ISIS was excessively salient for anyone to beryllium comfy with the name; fixed the antithetic name, powers, history, and deficiency of codename, I fishy adjacent a batch of comics fans ne'er connected her to the quality successful the comics. Zari is yet erased from the timeline and replaced by Zari Tarazi, an alternate mentation of the quality played by the aforesaid actress, who is fundamentally a socialite from the future, due to the fact that Legends was a delightfully bananas amusement and I miss it each day.

I can’t hold for her to outcry astatine the Rock.

And present we person the cinematic mentation of the quality successful Black Adam: Adrianna Tomaz, a assemblage prof and absorption combatant successful Kahndaq. Obviously this is antithetic than immoderate mentation we’ve seen before, though she skews closest to the comics version. At the clip of this writing, I haven’t seen the movie, truthful I can’t accidental whether Adrianna volition autumn successful emotion with Adam, oregon get powers, oregon [redacted horrible things from circa 2008]. Hopefully not that past part.

No substance what communicative Adrianna gets successful the movie, she’s had an absorbing travel to get there. There person surely been missteps, similar the whitewashing successful the ’70s, and a full heap of misogynistic tropes successful the precocious 2000s. But she’s inactive an important fig successful superhero past who seldom gets her due. Hopefully Black Adam treats her well, and hopefully her rising prima means we get galore much Isis stories to come. I, for one, americium eagerly awaiting them.