Warner Bros. and DC Films' Shazam! Fury of the Gods will include a cast member from HBO Max's Peacemaker.
Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg confirmed that actor Rizwan Manji, who played Christopher Smith's (John Cena) unlikely friend Jamil the janitor in Peacemaker, will appear in the upcoming Shazam! sequel. "Yes that's Rizwan," Sandberg said on Twitter. "[Producer] Peter Safran recommended him for a part after working with him on Peacemaker. I said 'but that's the same universe'. He said 'he's barely in Peacemaker'. Little did I know Rizwan is even dancing in the credits! Could be same character. Never named in Shazam 2." In a subsequent tweet, Peacemaker creator James Gunn responded by saying, "I think of him as Jamil’s more successful brother!"
Currently, the only other DC Extended Universe connection confirmed for Fury of the Gods is the return of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. However, some fans are curious if and when Billy Batson/Shazam, will face off against Black Adam, his longtime comic book archenemy. Black Adam will make his DCEU debut in his own movie of the same name, where he will be portrayed by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Sandberg said he's unaware of plans for a crossover.
"There hasn't really been a conversation about that," he said. "I know, at the moment, Black Adam is sort of its thing and Shazam is its thing. Then we'll see where it all goes in the future, but I haven't really been a part of any conversations like that."
Shazam! Fury of the Gods Comes to SDCC
Warner Bros. released the first trailer for Fury of the Gods during San Diego Comic-Con, which saw Billy Batson (Asher Angel/Zachary Levi) and his family of superheroes face off against the Daughters of Atlas (Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, Rachel Ziegler), who want to take back the power of the wizard Shazam. Sandberg said that Fury of the Gods is "a much bigger movie than the first one...There's so much stuff that I can't wait for people to see. I hope they put a lot of it in the trailer. I don't even care about spoilers, I'm just eager to show off our creatures, action, etc."
As for Peacemaker, a second season is currently in development for HBO Max, along with two other projects from Gunn. Additionally, Gunn has confirmed that, like Jamil, other characters from the show will appear in other DCEU projects beyond the HBO Max series. "There will be some blending of the characters from Peacemaker in the other shows I'm working on," he said. "And I'm involved with a couple of other [DC] things too."
Gunn has also teased in January that at least one character from Peacemaker will appear in a future DCEU film, though details surrounding the character or the film have not yet been confirmed. However, this news came after rumors that Emilia Harcourt, played by Jennifer Holland, would appear in Black Adam.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods lands in theaters on Dec 21, 2022. All episodes of Peacemaker are available to stream on HBO Max.
Source: Twitter