Black Adam made it to theaters last month in no small part thanks to the resolute stance of Dwayne Johnson, who petitioned Warner Bros. to give the anti-hero his own origin story rather than having him introduced in Shazam! While it now seems like the two characters are set to meet at some point in the DCU’s future, it has been reported that Johnson doesn’t really like the Shazam! franchise at all. This could make for exciting times going forward, especially with Shazam producer Peter Safran now being one-half of DC Studios’ driving force with James Gunn.
Shazam and Black Adam are essentially two halves of the same coin in DC’s comics and have been facing off against each other for decades. When Zachary Levi first appeared as Shazam it was initially planned that Black Adam would also appear in the movie, but this was something that Dwayne Johnson lobbied against, putting forward his case for the character to get his own solo movie before the two ever meet. With that clash now seeming inevitable thanks to the evolving DCU plan, a report has revealed some slightly worrying news that Johnson doesn’t have much time for Levi’s movie.
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According to The Wrap, Gunn and Safran have a task ahead of them to bring some continuity to the DCU, and that will involve getting everyone currently involved in the franchise on the same page creatively. With Johnson not afraid to push against the grain, it could be a long haul ahead. The report stated:
“Safran needs to win over all the other filmmakers… and Dwayne Johnson’s thinly veiled disdain for Shazam means he probably isn’t loving the idea that his boss is now the guy that produces ‘Shazam.’ Safran is pretty diplomatic, so I think he will pull it off but it won’t be easy.”
When Will Black Adam Fight Shazam?
Although these rumors of Johnson not being particularly fond of Shazam could suggest that there may be issues coming to the DCU before it really gets going, Johnson has already addressed bringing Black Adam and Shazam together. Whatever he thinks of the previous outing of the character, he certainly has respect for the source material, and that fueled his belief that both characters should be introduced on their own merits before being thrown together. He previously said:
Going forward, it looks like the output of the DCU will adopt a Marvel approach of building up expectations before delivering on them. Having very quickly escalated from Man of Steel, to Batman vs. Superman and then Justice League, this time around, it looks like there will be a longer form of storytelling put into play that will bring Henry Cavill’s Superman back to the fore of the franchise and feature Black Adam and Shazam as two lynchpins of the franchise.
