Zachary Levi’s Shazam and Dwayne Johnson‘s Black Adam won’t clash until Shazam! 3, some time after studio Warner Bros. launches Johnson’s own DC Extended Universe-set solo franchise.
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“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,” Levi said during Germany’s CCXP Cologne convention.
“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].”
Black Adam has been Shazam’s archenemy for decades, first emerging during the time the magic-powered superhero was known as the original “Captain Marvel.”
Because Black Adam draws his powers from the Egyptian gods — similar to teen Billy Batson being endowed with the power of the Greek gods when selected as the champion of an ancient wizard — Teth-Adam is the “ultimate” adversary for Shazam.
According to Levi, the franchise would peak if a crossover happened prematurely.
“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,” Levi said.
“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.”
Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions producing partner Hiram Garcia earlier explained the decision was made to hold off on having Shazam and Black Adam meet because the filmmakers “didn’t want to compromise either of them by cramming them both into the same movie.”
Johnson will reteam with his Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra on Black Adam. The superstar actor and producer said in April the project is expected to begin filming in the first half of 2020.
“I can’t wait to play Black Adam,” Johnson said in a video published to Instagram, “because they’re all getting their asses kicked when I play Black Adam. That day of reckoning is coming for everyone.”
Filming on Shazam! 2 is expected to get underway in late spring or early summer 2020. The David F. Sandberg-directed Shazam! is available to own on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray July 16.
