Here's Why 'Black Adam' and 'Shazam!' Were Split Into Separate Movies

It seemed strange to some that Black Adam was removed from the upcoming Shazam! movie, but there was a very clear reason for separating the two heroes.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has been attached to the Black Adam project for some time now, and while Shazam! is finally hitting its stride, many saw it as a bad sign that Black Adam wasn't included in the film. Seven Bucks Productions' President of Production Hiram Garcia recently broke down why the two characters aren't battling it out in Shazam!

"So as we were developing an actual Black Adam and Shazam movie, we were just realizing that both characters are so special that we didn't want to compromise either of them by cramming them both into the same movie," Garcia told Collider. "So that's why we made the decision to let Shazam have his own standalone movie and kind of launch him properly, and then we'll do the same for Black Adam. And so that kind of really freed things up. It allowed us to develop the right version of both."

The pairing of Black Adam and Johnson makes perfect sense to Garcia, who initially introduced Johnson to the idea of playing the character.

"Black Adam just made kind of great sense. It was this kind of really cool antihero, kicks ass, who believes in basically exacting justice in his way with a fascinating backstory, the history he has with regards to having been a former slave and freeing his people and then getting his abilities and what happened from there. So I pitched that to Dwayne early on, and he loved the idea, and we've just kind of kept it in the back of our mind. We had a great conversation with Warner Brothers one time years ago, and we all settled on this was our character," Garcia added.

Shazam! is directed by David F. Sandberg and stars Zachary Levi (Shazam), Mark Strong (Dr. Thaddeus Sivana), Djimon Hounsou (The Wizard), Jack Dylan Grazer (Freddy Freeman), Asher Angel (Billy Batson), Grace Fulton (Mary Bromfield), Ross Butler, Adam Brody, and Michelle Borth. You can find the official 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 (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. 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 (Strong)," the synopsis reads.

Next up for DC is Aquaman, which lands in theaters on Dec. 21st. Shazam! is slated to hit theaters on April 5, 2019, while Wonder Woman 2 hits theaters on Nov. 1, 2019.