The DCEU (and soon-to-bee DCU) is certainly making headlines but not for the reasons anyone at Warner Bros. likely wants. Shazam! Fury of the Gods opened to one of the lowest opening weekends for any film in the shared universe. Shazam's future in the new DCU was very much riding on the sequels box office performance and it appears that might be over and done with. This also comes shortly after the disappointing performance of Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam, which was set to be a major game-changer for the DCEU. Black Adam originated as a Shazam! villain, and with the two movies so close together, it seemed like DC and Warner Bros. were starting to generate a long-form story to be told across films.
Yet that never actually materialized. Despite Black Adam's references to many DC superheroes one notable absence is Shazam. Ever since Black Adam was released, there have been reports about Dwayne Johnson not wanting to be part of the Shazam! franchise and that he aimed to make Black Adam vs Superman the star attraction. Recent reports suggest that Dwayne Johnson's control of Black Adam might not have only hurt his film but impacted Shazam! Fury of the Gods as well. Is that true or is too much blame being put on the star? Take a look at his history with the franchise and how everything went wrong.
Dwayne Johnson Kept Shazam Out of Black Adam
Dwayne Johnson had been connected to the Shazam! franchise before the DCEU was ever conceived and was considered for both Shazam and Black Adam as far back as 2007. In 2014, he officially signed on to play Black Adam in Shazam! which was set for release in 2019. In 2017, however, it was revealed that Black Adam would instead be spun off into his own feature film and the Shazam! script was reworked to make Doctor Sivana the main antagonist.
Dwayne Johnson admitted to calling for this change, as he felt the Black Adam origin was so much to be squeezed into a Shazam! Warner Bros. accommodated this request as by this point Dwayne Jonhson's star power had grown so much that the studio did not want to use one of their biggest names on a possible one-off villain role. Warner Bros. likely thought they would make Shazam! then Black Adam, and have the two characters meet in a sequel and build it into an event film, similar to Marvel's formula of crossover events. Yet it seemed like Johnson had other plans.
Dwayne Johnson's Reported Dislike of Shazam!
There have been multiple reports that Dwayne Johnson was positioning himself to take control of the DCEU in some shape or form. He reportedly went over the heads of many at Warner Bros. and got a cameo for Henry Cavill as Superman even though Warner Bros. was already developing a new Superman project with a new actor. This was part of Johnson's overall arc for the Black Adam franchise and wanted to carve out a corner of the DCEU. There had been discussions of multiple spin-off films for Justice Society members and rumors circulated the canceled Wonder Twins movie was part of this as it was set to be written and directed by Black Adam screenwriter Adam Sztykiel. Yet there were no plans for Shazam in any of these discussions.
Black Adam was originally set to feature a mid-credit scene that saw Shazam being recruited into the Justice Society, but Dwayne Johnson vetoed it. Shazam being recruited into the Justice Society was later reused in Shazam! Fury of the Gods but Johnson blocked any crossover from members of the Justice Society appearing in the film. This falls in line with director David F. Sandberg revealing that the end credit scene was supposed to feature two characters from the Justice Society. That had to be changed at the last minute, though, with producer Peter Safran bringing in Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker.
Does All the Fault With Shazam! 2 Fall On Black Adam?
While it would undoubtedly be easy to point the finger at Black Adam and Dwayne Johnson for the box office underperformance of Shazam! Fury of the Gods is not entirely fair. Star Zachary Levi has pointed to film marketing as an issue, and that certainly was a problem that did not truly sell to general audiences what made this Shazam! sequel worth seeing other than just being another Shazam! film.
A Shazam! sequel with a star like Dwayne Johnson would have been a bigger draw for general audiences, but the studio knew that would not be an option when the sequel was greenlit and had to work around that. After all, an argument could be made that Black Adam needs Shazam more than Shazam needs Black Adam. In the original Fawcett Comics Black Adam only appeared in one story and Shazam was a character so popular he was outselling Superman.
The other factor is the villains the film did choose. The Daughters of Atlas was an original creation for the film and not from the comics. The filmmakers made all the right calls with them from casting great performers like Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler and making a villain that thematically ties into the conflict of the main hero. Yet that is not a captivating or quick sell for general audiences from a marketing perspective. Had the filmmakers used the comic book fan favorite Mister Mind and built off what was set up in the first film's mid-credit scene, the movie would have been more captivating for some audiences.
What Happens to Shazam and Black Adam Now?
Most hardcore superhero movie fans know that the DCEU is about to have a soft reboot with The Flash, which will lead into the DCU, run by Peter Safran and James Gunn. This likely played a factor in some audience members not rushing out to go see Shazam! Fury of the Gods, as they feel like there is no point if the character's story may not go on. Similar to a television series getting canceled it does not motivate audiences to watch. Yet that only is a small factor and most general audiences probably do not register these behind-the-scenes changes or continuity to a wider universe.
One does imagine though the audience that went to see Black Adam who saw Shazam in the end credits likely would have been incentivized to see Shazam! Fury of the Gods. What they got was a Superman cameo that leads nowhere. Instead of trying to play to the strengths of the shared universe that could be beneficial to everyone they tried to hype projects that did not even exist. Now Dwayne Jonhson has stepped away from the part of Black Adam, and the Shazam! franchise seems to be done, meaning these two classic characters will never meet in their current forms.