Shazam! actor Zachary Levi has revealed that Black Adam and Shazam won't meet until Shazam! 3. The character Shazam, commonly called Captain Marvel, was introduced back in the 1940s, but didn't make his way to the DC Extended Universe until this year. The film starred Levi as the titular character, as well as Asher Angel; the young Billy Batson who is granted super powers after being chosen as a champion by an ancient wizard.
While DC had a rocky start to their film universe, Shazam! was met with mainly positive reviews. The film saw Shazam go up against Doctor Sivana (Mark Strong), but originally Black Adam was going to be the villain of the film. Dwayne Johnson was cast as Black Adam back in 2014, but fans still haven't seen him suit up for the villainous role since Black Adam will get his own movie before squaring off against Shazam. Now, it looks like fans might have to wait a little longer to see the two characters together than previously thought.
First reported by Comicbook, Levi is now claiming that Shazam won't meet Black Adam in Shazam! 2, but rather Shazam 3!. Levi said the reasoning for this was because the Black Adam solo film had to happen first and because they thought the series wouldn't be as interesting after they introduced Shazam's arch-nemesis. Levi's full statement from the CCXP Cologne Convention can be read below:
"I can say that as far as I know, Black Adam is not going to be in the second Shazam!, because the idea is that they want to go and do a standalone Black Adam movie first. And then it would kind of be, if we do a third Shazam! and a second Black Adam, kind of [parallel] like that, that’s where we would [meet]. Because he’s like the ultimate bad guy for Captain Marvel, Shazam. Like [Shazam and] Black Adam, they’re doppelgängers right, the evil twin to who I am. So that’s got to be like the final battle. If we do that in the second movie, then where do we go after that? It would just be a movie of us sitting around playing video games for the third one, that would be very boring. Or not [laughs]. I’m a very interesting video game player. So yeah, I think that’s the idea. We’ll definitely [cross over] — the plan is to get there, but just to pace it out however it needs to pace out."
With the massive success of Shazam!, Shazam! 2 is almost a certainty. Shazam! 2 is expected to start filming in mid-2020, with Levi and Angel reprising their roles. Plot details for the film are scarce so far, but given the end-credits scene of Shazam!, Mister Mind will likely be the villain this time around. Crew members are also expected to return, with writer Henry Gayden and director David F. Sandberg having reportedly been rehired by Warner Bros.
While fans may be disappointed having to wait even longer to see Shazam and Black Adam battle on the big screen, Levi's reasoning does make a lot of sense. Black Adam doesn't even have a release date yet, so having the villain show up in Shazam! 2 could hurt the box office performance of the Black Adam solo movie. Fans are also dying to see Black Adam and Shazam square off, so after that, people might care less about future Shazam! sequels. That being said, Black Adam will certainly be introduced to the DCEU at some point.
Source: Comicbook
