The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) was previously being positioned as the center of the post-Zack Snyder DC Extended Universe, with his film Black Adam being pushed as a soft reboot of the franchise and supported by a massive publicity campaign. A report recently blamed The Rock for Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ box office failings, revealing that the Black Adam star was to blame for the Justice Society being cut from the sequel.
Dirt Sheet Radio noted that a new report from the Wrap reveals how Dwayne Johnson sabotaged the once promising Shazam franchise by putting his own brand before the good of the DCEU.
Johnson reportedly vetoed a scene in Black Adam which would’ve seen Zachary Levi’s Shazam show up in a cameo. Shazam would’ve been recruited into the Justice Society of America by Alan Hodge’s Hawkman.
Johnson also reportedly vetoed a Black Adam cameo in the Shazam sequel. Johnson wanted to revolve the DCEU around a potential showdown between his Black Adam and Henry Cavill’s Superman. He seemingly had no plans to involve himself with Black Adam’s true canonical rival Shazam.
Zachary Levi makes his thoughts clear
Zachary Levi who is responsible for portraying Shazam, made his feelings crystal clear. On his Instagram story, Levi shared a post calling out The Rock for altering the story of both Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
In the tweet from the Public Enemies Podcast, it’s alleged that The Rock “attempted to restructure the DCEU” around himself and Henry Cavill as Superman.
https://twitter.com/TheEnemiesPE3/status/1638332277666070530
