Could We Get A Shazam! Series On The CW?

With the introduction of a new character on one of The CW‘s DC superhero shows always comes the inevitable questions about that characters friends, foes, and supporting cast: who might we meet? What role will they play?

With this weeks’ addition of Tala Ashe as Zari Adrianna Tomaz to the crew of the Waverider, that means some DC fans are asking whether or not DC’s Legends of Tomorrow might encounter her comics husband, Black Adam, or other members of the “Marvel Family.”

That’s…tough to say.

Normally, in a show that featured the Justice Society of America, a legacy of Green Arrows, and more, we would assume that the addition of Isis (she probably won’t go by that name on the show, because of its current polticial ties) would come the Wizard Shazam, Black Adam, or other familiar names from the comics (and the Shazam! TV series that ran as a companion to the original Secrets of Isis series).

That impression is offset by the fact that both Black Adam and Shazam (nee Captain Marvel) are set to headline their own solo movies in the near future.

While there is no official policy against major characters from the movies appearing on TV (see Superman on Supergirl and…umm…The Flash on The Flash for examples), such appearances seem to be frowned upon and minimized where possible.

Superman, for instance, appeared only in four episodes of Supergirl this season: the first two and the last two. While The Flash obviously can’t be minimized on his own series, characters like Captain Boomerang (2 total appearances on Arrow), Deathstroke (largely absent since season 2 of Arrow), and other Suicide Squad members have either been killed on The CW, or at least shunted off to the background when plans started to materialize for their movie counterparts.

A Suicide Squad TV spinoff was once planned — or at least discussed — before it was scuttled when the movie started to be developed, and it’s no secret that The Atom was planned as Blue Beetle before somebody at Warner Bros. told producers that there were “other plans” for him. Rumor has it those “other plans” are in the planned Booster Gold movie to be written by X-Men: First Class scribe Zack Stentz.

Shazam! ran as a live-action series for 3 seasons between 1974 and 1976 and had an animated iteration in 1981 and 1982, so it’s got a live-action pedigree beyond just the movies…which mirrors The Flash, a series that existed in 1990 before its recent reboot.

What’ our opinion? It’s pretty unlikely we’d get a Shazam! spinoff, even if we do see the characters on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow — which in and of itself is not entirely likely.

If there were to be such a spinoff, it would likely be on either CW Seed (where they may have a little more flexibility due to the fact that they’re working with animation) or on the planned DC app, which will give a home to Young Justice and Titans. Adding another youth-driven show (Shazam! is a wish fulfillment fantasy, after all) could make sense there.

…But don’t get too excited just yet. At this point, we’re looking at a more TV version of Isis, who might exist in the universe with Shazam but isn’t fully a part of the Marvel Family, than the comics take.