Watch Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam light up Dubai landmarks, including Burj Khalifa

The digital stunt is part of a promotional video for the superhero film, which will be released next week

Black Adam leaves his mark on Burj Khalifa, the Museum of the Future and Burj Al Arab in the new promotional video. Photo: DC Films

Black Adam is igniting Dubai landmarks ahead of the superhero film's release next Thursday.

In a new promotional video, the DC Comics character, played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, is seen flying across Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab and the Museum of the Future, electrifying them with his trademark lightning bolt.

In the comics and the movie, Black Adam has many powers, including using a lightning bolt as a weapon as well as interdimensional or time travel.

"Hello Dubai, Dwayne Johnson here. And I'm so excited to report to you guys that Black Adam, my new movie, is already lighting up the city and taking over some of the coolest landmarks and the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa," the Hollywood star says in the video.

More than a decade in the making, Black Adam is a passion project of Johnson's, who first unveiled a snippet from the film in October last year.

"I've worked these fingers to the bone. Because it's the kind of project that comes once in a lifetime," Johnson said at DC FanDome, a virtual event to promote DC Comics' films and shows scheduled for release.

Reuniting with director Jaume Collet-Serra, whom he worked with in the hit Disney film Jungle Cruise, Johnson is also the producer of the film and officially signed on for the role in 2014.

“This film, this universe has been a gigantic passion project of mine for a very long time,” the actor said. “The film has without question some of the biggest action sequences I have ever been a part of."

Black Adam, the character, is a warrior who has been imprisoned for 5,000 years and is reborn in the modern world, gifted with supernatural abilities and desperate to exact revenge on those he thinks have wronged him. Superhero team, Justice Society of American, then try to stop his rampage and teach him how to use his powers for the greater good.

Early reactions to the film have largely been positive, after a special screening in New York City on Wednesday night, with one reviewer even calling it a "game changer".

Film commentator Erik Davis said Black Adam "rocks", leaving him wanting more.

"Comic book films that have momentum, emotion and a strong layered mythology are always the most entertaining to me," he said.

Writer Joseph Deckelmeier says it is the DC Comics movie he'd been waiting for.

"Black Adam is a game-changer! The Rock is electrifyingly brutal as Black Adam. This is what I wanted Black Adam to be," he tweeted.

With a backstory set in Egypt, the film also features a number of Middle Eastern actors, including Palestinian-American comedian Mo Amer, Tunisian-Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari and American actress Sarah Shahi, whose father is from Iran.

Other cast members include Noah Centineo as Al Rothstein/Atom Smasher; Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate; Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall/Hawkman; and Djimon Hounsou as Shazam.

Black Adam is in cinemas on October 20

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