We had heard that Black Adam star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was attempting to position himself as a major DC power player prior to the movie's release, but today's report from The Wrap suggested that the actor's ego may be even more out of control than we'd been led to believe.
Apparently, Johnson had no interest in having Shazam cameo in Black Adam's post-credits scene to set up a future crossover, and actually prevented Justice Society characters from appearing in the mid-credits sequence of Fury of the Gods, forcing director David F. Sandberg to make last-minute changes.
Sandberg has already confirmed that the scene “fell apart three days before we were going to roll cameras,” and star Zachary Levi now appears to have backed-up today's report.
The actor shared the following to his Instagram stories.
Johnson clearly wanted Black Adam to remain separate from the more light-hearted Shazam! franchise, and was evidently in a position to veto Sandberg's request.
Was being the operative word.
Things have changed since, with James Gunn and Peter Safran taking over as DC Studios co-heads. Johnson is highly unlikely to play Teth Adam again, and things don't look great for more Shazam! movies, either.
Johnson has yet to share a response, but it probably won't be too long before he Tweets something, so be sure to keep an eye out for updates.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.