‘Shazam!’ Director Address Superman Theme Rumor

Last week, a rumored description of the second trailer for Shazam! surfaced online and revealed several nods to both Batman and Superman, including one character humming the theme to 1978’s Superman. Now, Shazam! director David F. Sandberg is weighing in on the rumor.

On Twitter, a DC fan posted that they were troubled by the idea that any fan of the DC Extended Universe would be bothered by an Easter Egg of John Williams’ iconic theme being part of the movie. However, Sandberg replied that the best part of the whole situation was that the humming doesn’t exist, at least not in the movie.

“And the best part is that there’s no humming of any theme in the movie,” Sandberg wrote. “Maybe we should add it though to keep the rage train going.”

He then clarified that he can’t vouch for the trailer and it rumors of the theme being included there since he has no control over those.

“I can’t really speak for the trailers since I don’t make those,” he explained. “They can used deleted footage, add new dialogue, music, etc. But I know what is and isn’t in the movie itself.”

The idea of Easter Eggs in Shazam! is one that’s been discussed pretty much since the moment the very first images from the film debuted. However, while there are little nods to the DCEU in Shazam!, star Zachary Levi made it clear last month that Shazam! is very much its own film. It’s something that he’s been saying consistently, noting that fans who haven’t been following the rest of the DC franchise will still be comfortable with.

“Our movie takes place very squarely in the DC Universe,” Levi told Entertainment Tonight last year. “In fact, I would argue that we’re kind of the most self-aware of it because the movies that we all watch — I mean, Aquaman and Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman — they’re all basically documentaries in their world. These things are all real events that have happened. Batman and Superman fighting, Superman saving all of Metropolis, whilst simultaneously destroying the entire city — that all really happened.”

You can check out the synopsis for Shazam! below.

“We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Zachary Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard (Djimon Hounsou). Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).”

Shazam! premieres in theaters on April 5, 2019.