Zachary Levi Shades Dwayne Johnson Over Axed ‘Shazam! 2’ Cameo


Zachary Levi and Dwayne Johnson
Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock; John Salangsang/Shutterstock

A superhero storm is brewing. Zachary Levi seemingly revealed that fellow DC Universe star Dwayne Johnson modified Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ post-credits scene.

One among two the 2 finish credit within the sequel movie — which hit theaters on Friday, March 17 — sees Levi’s titular superhero being recruited for The Justice Society of America, a superhero group featured in Johnson’s 2022 movie Black Adam. In accordance with a report by The Wrap, revealed on Tuesday, March 21, Johnson, 50, prevented Shazam! 2 director David F. Sandberg from utilizing any of the group’s characters within the scene, leading to Peacemaker characters Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) doing the recruiting as an alternative.

On high of that, the report additionally claimed that the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle star shut down a attainable cameo from Levi, 42, in Black Adam — which he produced along with starring in — regardless of Shazam and Black Adam being one another’s largest foes within the comics.

The Tangled star appeared to verify the revelations by way of his Instagram Story on Tuesday, March 21. Sharing a screenshot of one other Instagram Story that includes The Wrap’s reporting, Levi captioned his put up, “The reality shall set you free,” full with an upside-down smiley face and raised palms emojis.

Sandberg, 42, beforehand spoke out in regards to the post-credit scene casting switch-up, telling The Hollywood Reporter in an interview revealed on March 18 that the scene “fell aside three days earlier than we have been going to roll cameras.”

He continued: “Peter Safran, who produced this film and Peacemaker, made some calls, and fortunately, Jen Holland and Steve Agee have been capable of come by on very quick discover. I imply, the scene makes rather less sense with them. It’s like, ‘Why are they recruiting for Justice Society?’ however you possibly can form of see it as they’re working for Amanda Waller [Viola Davis]. So I used to be simply very grateful to get them in there, and it was actually cool taking pictures it as a result of I’m an enormous fan of Peacemaker.”

HBO’s Peacemaker is a spin-off of James Gunn’s 2021 movie The Suicide Squad and follows John Cena’s titular anti-hero’s newest misadventures.

All the drama comes amid main shakeups within the DC Universe. Gunn, 56, and Safran, 57, took over as DC Studios’ new co-chairman and chief government officers in November 2022. The duo introduced they plan to reboot many of the franchise’s main properties, which incorporates letting go of Henry Cavill’s Superman and canceling a number of introduced initiatives, together with Patty JenkinsSurprise Lady 3 with Gal Gadot, amongst others. The fates of different characters, together with Black Adam and Shazam, are at present up within the air.

“One of many issues Peter & I have been conscious of once we took the job as heads of DC Studios was a sure minority of individuals on-line that might be, effectively, uproarious & unkind, to say the least,” the Guardians of the Galaxy director wrote by way of Instagram in December 2022. “Our decisions for the DCU are primarily based upon what we imagine is finest for the story & finest for the DC characters who’ve been round for almost 85 years. Maybe these decisions are nice, maybe not, however they’re made with honest hearts & integrity & all the time with the story in thoughts.”

Gunn — who tied the knot with Holland, 36, in October 2022 — continued: “Nobody likes to be harassed or known as names — however, to be frank, we’ve been by way of considerably worse. Disrespectful outcry won’t ever, ever have an effect on our actions. We have been conscious there can be a interval of turbulence once we took this gig, & we knew we’d generally need to make troublesome & not-so-obvious decisions, particularly within the wake of the factious nature of what got here earlier than us. However this implies little to us compared to our jobs as artists & custodians in serving to to create a large & great future for DC.”