Who Is Sabbac in Black Adam? Meet Marwan Kenzari’s Demonic Character

While the DCEU has been quite silent lately, we do know that we are going to be getting the Black Adam movie anytime soon. But what we don’t know is who Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s anti-hero character will be up against, especially considering that Black Adam is most often a villain. That is when we learned that Sabbac (played by Marwan Kenzari) would be appearing in the upcoming Black Adam movie. But who is Sabbac in Black Adam?

Sabbac is a mortal being that is empowered by six of the most powerful demons, as opposed to Black Adam being empowered by six powerful gods. By speaking its name, Sabbac is able to transform into a huge fire-breathing demon that is capable of fighting even Black Adam himself, who is quite powerful. 

Introducing Sabbac into Black Adam as part of the DCEU is quite interesting because we know that Black Adam himself can also be portrayed as a villain in the comics and the animated shows. Nevertheless, Sabbac is an even worse being that is pure evil, as opposed to Black Adam, who is often just an anti-hero. Now, with that said, let’s look at what we know about Sabbac.

Who Is Sabbac In Black Adam?

As we all know, the Black Adam movie is going to be released soon, but there are already people wondering who the anti-hero character will be up against in this film. After all, Black Adam himself is sometimes portrayed as a villain himself, and that means that there has to be a character that’s much worse than him if the movie should have a villain. The good thing is that the trailer allowed us to meet Sabbac, who is probably going to be the main villain of the movie.

Those who have been following DC for a very long time would know that Black Adam is an incredibly old character that first appeared in 1945 because Captain Marvel (Shazam) himself is also a very old character that was created to compete with Superman during the 30s and 40s. However, Sabbac is an even older villain compared to Black Adam because he first appeared in 1943.

There have been a lot of different versions of Sabbac because the character has undergone an evolution ever since the 1940s. The first Sabbac was Timothy Karnes, who was collaborating with the Nazis during World War II. Nevertheless, it took a while for Sabbac to take off as a character because he didn’t have the depth that some of the other DC villains had.

After Timothy, a Russian gangster named Ishmael Gregor became the second Sabbac, as he actually stole the original Sabbac’s powers. This is where it gets interesting because Sabbac is much like Shazam and Black Adam in the sense that the powers can be transferred from one host to another. this version of Sabbac existed until the middle of the 2000s.

After that, Sabbac was finally rebooted with the rest of the different Shazam characters during the New 52 universe introduction. This Sabbac is actually powered by the Seven Deadly Sins of Man (instead of the six demons that we are going to discuss later on). As such, these Seven Deadly Sins inhabited a man named Mr. Bryer, who is a wealthy person that likes to prey on the weak. In that regard, Black Adam attempted to use Sabbac as a means for him to destroy the world so that he could take Kahndaq to greater heights upon the destruction of the other civilizations on the planet.

Of course, at this point, we don’t know which version of Sabbac Black Adam will have in the movie, but it is possible that we are going to see the second version, who is Ishmael Gregor. That version is the one who draws his power from the six powerful demons instead of the Seven Deadly Sins of Man. As such, he is going to be an interesting character to watch out for in the upcoming Black Adam movie.

What Are Sabbac’s Powers And Abilities?

Sabbac is just like Shazam and Black Adam in the sense that his name is an acronym for six powerful entities that provide him power and strength. However, instead of six gods, Sabbac is powered by six demons, namely Satan, Ayn, Belial, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, and Crateis. In that regard, he is also like Shazam in the sense that he has to say his name to transform into a demonic entity. 

If we already think that Black Adam is an incredibly grave threat to the world if he wanted to take over the planet, Sabbac is worse because he is pure evil, considering that he does carry the power of six demons. And Sabbac is so strong that his power could possibly dwarf the powers of Black Adam himself, who we already know is also incredibly powerful and can even stand toe-to-toe with Superman.

Like Shazam and Black Adam, Sabbac is a magical entity that uses magic to fly. He can also breathe fire and grow as big as a small building so that he can use his size and strength to his advantage. And because he is also a magical being, he has powers that can hurt and possibly defeat Superman, just like how Shazam and Black Adam are also particularly strong against the Man of Steel.

Of course, he is like the rest of the characters in the Shazam storyline in the sense that he is hindered by the fact that he can transform in and out of his demonic form by speaking his name. So, if he gets tricked into speaking his name, he loses his demonic form and becomes a regular human being, just like how Shazam and Black Adam can become weaker when they utter “shazam.”

What Is Sabbac’s Role In Black Adam?

At this point, we don’t know a lot about Sabbac in the Black Adam movie because the only thing we know about him is what has been revealed by DC in the trailers and promotional materials. But there are some speculations as to what his role could be in this movie.

Of course, we know that Black Adam himself is a rather complex character because he can be a villain or an anti-hero, depending on how you look at him. That means that he needs to have an incredibly evil enemy for audiences to justify his anti-hero persona. This is where Sabbac comes in as the greater threat that he needs to fight and defeat because this is a being of pure evil. And the thing is that it can be quite a hard sell for the DCEU to market a demonic entity as a villain for a movie that kids are also going to be watching. 

Nevertheless, the fact that Sabbac is going to be in the DCEU is a refreshing sight to see because he isn’t always someone that we see in animated and live-action shows. And another interesting piece of information is that he is going to be shown in the present times because Ishmael Gregor will be portrayed by the leader of Intergang, which is one of the most prominent criminal organizations in DC. 

So, with that said, because Sabbac is a demon of pure evil, it can be speculated that the character will butt heads with Black Adam when he tries to take over Kahndaq or, at the very least, attacks the city that The Rock’s character lords over. As we all know, Black Adam is someone who would do anything it would take to protect Kahndaq, even if it means going up against an incredibly powerful foe.