-- Shazam fan art by Datrinti --
Newly released character descriptions for the Shazam! movie hint that Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam may appear in the film after all. The next scheduled DCEU movie after Aquaman arrives this December, the release date for Shazam! was recently confirmed to be April 5th, 2019. The film crew has spent the last few weeks of pre-production rounding out its cast, with filming set to get underway next month.
DC's Geoff Johns wasn't a very popular person last July when he first confirmed that Shazam's arch-nemesis, Black Adam, would not be appearing in the movie. It seemed like an odd decision to leave Black Adam out in the cold, even if the supervillain was set to appear in his own solo flick at some point in the near future. Dwayne Johnson eventually confirmed that the two characters' projects had been split, which seemingly set Adam's exclusion from Shazam! in stone. Instead, the hero formerly known as Captain Marvel will make his debut by squaring off against Mark Strong's Doctor Sivana, whose identity has been confirmed in a recently revealed character breakdown.
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That same breakdown, brought to us by the fine folks over at That Hashtag Show, actually reveals that Shazam could be facing off against as many as four villains in his first solo outing. On top of Doctor Sivana, the character descriptions list Beautia and Magnificus Savana -- the not-so-good doctor's children -- as supporting leads in the movie. But the big reveal comes in the form of a character listed as "Mysterious Man", who's set for a cameo role as "Shazam's underling." Could this be Johnson's Black Adam?
Update: Shazam! director David F. Sandberg has responded to these character breakdowns on Twitter, saying they're "bullsh-t."
-- Black Adam fan art by George Evangelista --
Again, it's been confirmed several times now that Black Adam would not be making his DCEU debut in Shazam! But as The Hashtag Show notes, DC's shared universe has recently come under new management. Now that Walter Hamada has stepped up to take charge, it's entirely possible that the new regime has realized the folly of excluding Shazam's most popular adversary from the action. Billy Batson's alter-ego isn't exactly a widely recognizable, A-list superhero. The box office boost that Dwayne Johnson can provide, even with a limited role, would definitely make Shazam! a safer financial bet. We'd say that it would also make the movie significantly more awesome, but hey, that's just our opinion.
It's also possible that the breakdown is alluding to an entirely different character, of course. A number of folks from the Marvel/Shazam family could fit the bill of an "underling" better than Black Adam. But would the minds behind the DCEU bother to hide this character's identity if it wasn't Black Adam? Sound off with your thoughts in the comments.
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Source: That Hashtag Show
