A collaboration between Black Adam and Shazam made sense for comic book fans. As the characters are closely attached in the comics, seeing the two titans face-off could have delivered a fan-favorite moment. Sadly, Black Adam star and producer Dwayne Johnson felt differently as a new report from The Wrap reveals that The Rock allegedly did not want to see any Black Adam characters featured in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, especially in any of the post-credit scenes.
As you may know, Shazam! Fury of the Gods included a mid-credit scene that features Harcourt and Economos from The Suicide Squad/Peacemaker trying to recruit Shazam into the Justice Society. While it may have been a cute way to feature two James Gunn regulars before Shazam went onto the DC Studios reboot chopping block, it was also done out of necessity. It seems like the original plans were a bit different, and the filmmakers had to make do with their available options.
The Wrap reports the end credit scene “would have seen Shazam recruited by Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman, and other costumed heroes, into the Justice Society of America.”
With Black Adam characters being left out of Shazam’s sequel and almost no reference to Shazam in the Black Adam solo film, it seems like one of the filmmakers involved here wanted nothing to do with each other. As we saw Dwayne Johnson grasp at straws for fan attention with a Henry Cavill Superman cameo, some insiders believe this move hurt both Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods in the long run.
“By alienating the established property that his character was born out of, and refusing to integrate with other established characters, [Johnson] systematically crippled two franchises and has harmed DC in the process,” a source told The Wrap.
In theory, if both films used this moment to reference each other – small shoutouts or the planned mid-credit cameos – both could’ve thrived off each other’s limited markets and found a common fanbase. That didn’t happen, and both films have struggled at the box office, with Black Adam being a global bomb and Shazam 2 tanking on its opening weekend this past weekend.
SEE ALSO: Dwayne Johnson confirms Black Adam will not be part of DC’s immediate future
Dwayne Johnson wanted so hard to be involved in the DC hierarchy by facing off with a top-tier character like Superman that he left one of his most iconic comic book relationships in the dust. Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and DC Studios as a whole, have some issues but little moments like this are doing nothing but fracture an already broken fandom ahead of the James Gunn/Peter Safran DC Studios reboot.
Bestowed with the powers of the gods, Billy Batson and his fellow foster kids are still learning how to juggle teenage life with having adult Super Hero alter-egos. But when the Daughters of Atlas, a vengeful trio of ancient gods, arrive on Earth in search of the magic stolen from them long ago, Billy—aka Shazam—and his family are thrust into a battle for their superpowers, their lives, and the fate of their world.
Shazam: Fury of the Gods is directed by David F. Sandberg and sees the return of Zachary Levi alongside fellow cast members Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody as Freddy Freeman, Faith Herman and Meagan Good as Darla Dudley, Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield, Ian Chen and Ross Butler as Eugene Choi, Jovan Armand and D.J. Cotrona as Pedro Pena, Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez, Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez, and Djimon Hounsou as The Wizard. New additions to the cast include Helen Mirren as Hespera, Lucy Liu as Kalypso, and Rachel Zegler as Anthea.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is playing in cinemas now.
