The following contains major spoilers for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, now showing in cinemas.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg recently explained why he scrapped the DC Universe blockbuster's planned Batman and Superman cameos.

Sandberg confirmed that he abandoned plans to include the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel in Shazam! Fury of the Gods during an interview with ComicBook.com. "[W]e get around [referencing the wider DCU] a little bit because we have a big dome surrounding, a big force field dome surrounding [Philidelphia]. [We] stole that from The Simpsons," he said. "No, but I did early on think, like, we should have a scene, at least on a news report or something, where you can see from far away something like Superman trying to get in or Batman standing outside, pounding the dome or something. That was dropped pretty quickly, because that also opens up a whole 'nother can of worms because then you really start thinking about it. 'Well, yeah, clearly they are here, so what's going on?'"

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While Batman and Superman didn't make the cut for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, another of their Justice League teammates did. Wonder Woman appears in two scenes and is once again portrayed by DC veteran Gal Gadot. Gadot's involvement in the Shazam! sequel was an open secret, having previously been confirmed by footage screened at CinemaCon 2022. She was also visible in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot included with a Fury of the Gods trailer targeted at Japanese audiences.

Shazam 2 Sets Up the DCU's Future

Wonder Woman isn't the only familiar face to show up in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, either. The film's post-credits scene marks the return of Mister Mind, a classic villain from Fury of the Gods' DC Comics source material teased in the first Shazam movie. The alien caterpillar was originally slated to serve as one of the second Shazam installment's main antagonists, however, he was ultimately replaced with the Daughters of Atlas, instead.

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Shazam! Fury of the Gods also includes ties to other DCU properties, most notably Black Adam and Peacemaker. Two characters from the latter, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee), are the focus of Fury of the Gods' mid-credits scene, which sees them reference the Justice Society of America introduced to the DCU in Black Adam. How this scene tracks with wider DCU canon is currently unclear, although Sandberg recently indicated that the Shazam sequel doesn't contradict forthcoming DC Studios projects' shared continuity.

Source: ComicBook.com