Despite being Shazam’s nemesis and sharing the same skillset, there has never been a connection between Shazam and Black Adam. A recent rumor from The Wrap has been going around saying that Dwayne Johnson actually blocked any planned connections between the two characters, and it looks like Zachary Levi has confirmed them to be true.
He shared the contents of the Wrap article on his story (via @homeofdcu):
Zachary Levi posted this on his Instagram story.
— Home of DCU (@homeofdcu) March 21, 2023
If you’ve watched the mid-credits scene for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the clip has Shazam being recruited by Amanda Waller’s lapdogs Harcourt and Economos (from Peacemaker). As it turns out, the original plan was to have the JSA themselves appear and recruit Billy, but Johnson was said to have vetoed the decision, forcing director David F. Sandberg to make a hurried decision to have Economos and Harcourt.
So far, Johnson himself hasn’t said anything about the rumor, but some say that he was trying to restructure the DCEU around himself and Henry Cavill’s Superman before James Gunn and Peter Safran took over.
Seeing as how I actually liked Shazam! 2 a lot more than I expected, it’s kind of a shame that the Rock didn’t want the two characters to clash onscreen. If anything, he kind of owes the Shazam! team an apology, because his refusal to connect Black Adam with that movie was what led to a lot of people thinking Shazam! was going to be terrible; and it turns out it was leagues better than Black Adam.
Then again, that’s just my own opinion.
For now, you can catch Shazam! Fury of the Gods now showing in theaters.
