Back in 2019 when Shazam! was hitting screens everywhere, and when Henry Cavill’s Superman status was still in limbo, the feeling the Internet had was it was only a matter of time before the Man of Steel and The Big Red Cheese would meet Black Adam. And that first meeting devolving into a Pier City brawl was a bankable outcome.
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Now the red cape is no longer Cavill’s and Supes is headed back to the Daily Planet newsroom in Superman: Legacy. Black Adam, meanwhile, his film debut a bomb, is an afterthought in the DCU and against the Fury of the Gods. But the possibility of an appearance by the Man in Black in the sequel is still in question.
Star Zachary Levi was asked about it in an interview with Jake Hamilton, host of Jake’s Takes, and he had an anticlimactic middle-of-the-road answer. “That’s all so far above my pay grade,” Levi said. “I have no idea.” Granted, he has to be coy by studio fiat if a Black Adam cameo is inserted into Fury as it has to be a surprise.
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The likelihood is minimized by the failure of the Black Adam movie but Levi is open to it and the idea of his mystical champion squaring off with Johnson’s MIB. “I know that in the comics, and even in some animation, there has been some really cool, epic battles between Shazam and Black Adam…” he added.
“I know a lot of fans wanted that,” he continued. “I know I was totally open to that, but that’s all I know.” Black Adam underperforming dashed the hopes of that lot of fans for a sequel. A showdown between the two as well as a Hawkman spinoff were in development based on reports and rumors that simmered for years.
Seven Bucks partner and producer Hiram Garcia fanned the flames when he stated the idea on the drawing board, after Cavill’s secret cameo in Black Adam became known, was for Superman and Teth-Adam to have an uneasy coexistence as two powerhouses. This fed into the idea that a future Black Adam or Shazam! sequel would explore their rapprochement fracturing.
James Gunn’s plans officially nix that direction but according to Dwayne Johnson, the new DC Studio head is keeping the door open to “ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters” post-“Gods and Monsters.” By that point, unfortunately, the possibility could become implausible as the new DCU is in full swing and, moreover, other questions linger.
It’s not certain anymore if Shazam or Zachary Levi will be part of the proceedings. Levi recently was a soft target of cancel culture while his contract is allegedly about to end. It could be all for him and the Marvel Family in 2023 but the success of Fury of the Gods might change their fate. It’s not looking bright, though.
Promotion of the film is slack to the point that the film’s cast, especially Grace Currey, and its director David Sandberg are desperately reminding people to go see Fury when it comes out next week. The latter recently tweeted, “the possibility for more Shazam is there and if that’s what you want your best bet is to go see the film.”
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