Shazam! Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg has debunked a recent rumor that claims characters from the HBO Max series Peacemaker will appear in the upcoming sequel film.
Sandberg, while responding to a fan on Reddit, snuffed out the rumor that DC Studios co-chair and co-CEO James Gunn added a scene featuring characters from the Peacemaker series, which Gunn wrote and created. "No. The finished movie was delivered end of October last year, so right before he officially began the job," he revealed. "Sure, sometimes productions can add scenes or do changes very last minute but nothing has changed on Shazam." Sandberg further confirmed that Gunn had no direct involvement with the film's final cut. "It’s a freestanding story and they’ve told me it doesn’t affect or interfere with future DC plans so no reason to change anything."
Shazam! Fury of the Gods will serve as the last DC film taking place fully in the DCEU, with the upcoming solo film The Flash set to feature multiple timelines, including the birth of the new DCU. While it is currently unknown if the Shazam! cast and characters will continue in Gunn's rebooted timeline, lead Zachary Levi has stated that Fury of the Gods' box office will determine their fates. "The success of the second movie will determine a lot," he admitted. Unfortunately for Levi, the Shazam! sequel is currently tracking to gross $35 million in its opening weekend, which is vastly lower than the $53.5 million its predecessor, Shazam!, opened to in 2019.
Shazam in a Kingdom Come Movie?
If Shazam! Fury of the Gods manages to pull off a box office victory, Levi has already revealed that he would love to play Shazam in an adaptation of DC Comics' acclaimed limited series Kingdom Come. "It’s just a matter of just trying to figure out what we can do to keep making good material that includes Shazam, staying true to the character and doing right by our fan base and all the people who have supported the comic and the character for coming up on a century," he said, regarding potential DCU projects that could include his superhero. "There are all manner of different things that can be done. Kingdom Come would be amazing."
Set several years after the events of the first film, Shazam! Fury of the Gods follows the Shazam Family (led by Asher Angel and Levi's Billy Batson/Shazam) as they try and stop the Daughters of Atlas -- Rachel Zegler's Anthea, Helen Mirren's Hespera and Lucy Liu's Kalypso -- from using a weapon that could destroy the world. Shazam! Fury of the Gods opens in theaters on March 17.
Source: Reddit