Shazam! Fury of the Gods co-screenwriter Henry Gayden recently revealed why the DC blockbuster doesn't follow up on the original movie's Mister Mind-centric sequel set-up.

Gayden unpacked the decision to ignore the first Shazam installment's mid-credits scene, which teases a team-up between Sivana and evil alien caterpillar Mister Mind, in an interview with Cinemablend. "There was a long period of developing [Shazam 2] and going down various alleys, like who the villain is, Sivana, Mister Mind, all these things that we did," he said. "But the one core thing that was there from the jump after the first movie was [that] the next story for [Shazam's alter-ego] Billy [Batson] is, now that he has a family, how does he behave? And it is, now that he has it, he's terrified to lose it."

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"[The version of Shazam 2 with Mister Mind] was really fun," Gayden added. "But what ended up happening is it felt redundant with the first movie, because despite Mister Mind being a fascinating new addition, it still was a lot of Sivana and Billy, and it didn't feel like it was telling an emotional next installment. It just felt like it was telling the natural next installment, action-wise. So, emotionally, when we got to [the Shazam 2 script with] the sisters and the Daughters of Atlas [as the villains], it was about like, 'How do we get these powers? Do we deserve them?'" Questioning that, and really telling that story was much more compelling than continuing the Sivana story right now."

Shazam 2 Star On Black Adam's Future

Mister Mind may not be the only classic Shazam antagonist Billy Batson doesn't encounter on the big screen, either. Recent reports claim that Fury of the Gods no longer contains an appearance by Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam, despite online buzz that Johnson was set to reprise the role. Shazam himself Zachary Levi indicated in a recent interview that not even he knows whether Black Adam will show up in Fury of the Gods, noting that creative decisions such as this are "above [his] pay grade."

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The uncertainty surrounding Black Adam's future in the DC Universe mirrors the status of the wider Shazam franchise itself. Director David F. Sandberg recently suggested that Levi reprising the Shazam role again isn't guaranteed, and hinges on Fury of the Gods' box office performance. Despite this, Sandberg also noted that the sequel won't clash with the continuity of the revamped DCU, which means further Shazam installments remain theoretically possible.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods arrives in theaters on March 17, 2023.

Source: Cinemablend