There are a whole lot of rumors flying around all the time about the DC Extended Universe, but this one has some serious legitimacy to it. And it is pretty unexpected. It was recently reported that the long-awaited Shazam! movie is probably going to start production in February of 2018. So that means we're finally going to get to see The Rock's Black Adam, right? Not so fast. According to a new report, he isn't going to be in the movie at all. Yes, you heard that right.

The news comes courtesy of The Wrap's Umberto Gonzalez, who has become something of an unofficial ambassador for DCEU news. He recently stated that Shazam will finally start filming early next year, possibly under the direction of David F. Sandberg ({Lights Out]). Variety's Justin Kroll took issue with that, stating that if Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is going to feature in Shazam, that production info isn't correct. That's when Umberto Gonzalez dropped the rather unexpected news.

"He is not in it."

Say what now? Dwayne Johnson, the man who was hired years ago to play the villainous Black Adam, one of the biggest stars in the world and one of the main reasons people want to see Shazam is not in the movie? That seems to be the case. In the same Twitter thread, Umberto Gonzalez revealed that when he initially reported the news of David F. Sandberg possibly directing Shazam he had to take Dwayne Johnson out of the report because he isn't going to be in the movie. That raises a whole lot of very interesting questions about the DCEU and what this means.

Dwayne Johnson has been attached to the role of Black Adam since 2014 and, even very recently, has been teasing his involvement in the DCEU. He has even hyped up an eventual fight between Black Adam and Henry Cavill's Superman. Warner Bros. decided that they like the idea of The Rock as Black Adam so much that they even have (or had?) plans to do a Black Adam solo movie in addition to the Shazam movie. But if he isn't going to appear in Shazam at all, what does that mean? Is any of that still going to happen?

There are some possibilities. Shazam could happen without Black Adam. And there have been rumors that the superhero will be played by Armie Hammer. Then the Black Adam solo movie could happen and those two movies could build to Shazam 2, or something like that, where the two finally throw down. But still, not having The Rock in the Shazam movie does make that project less appealing to the general audience member.

Dwayne Johnson is an insanely busy guy and it's possible that his schedule just became too crowded to make Shazam work. At least for now. Warner Bros. recently set February 14, 2020, and June 5, 2020, release dates for two unspecified DC movies. One of those could be Shazam. We could definitely find out more firm details during San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, but this is an interesting story DCEU fans are going to want to follow.