For the majority of the cast who returned for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, seeing the sequel go down in a ball of box office flames was their first experience of failure within the confines of the genre, with a couple of notable exceptions.
One is of course leading man Zachary Levi, who had the misfortune of starring Thor: The Dark World back when it was the worst-reviewed Marvel Cinematic Universe movie of all-time, and the other is Adam Brody. The difference is that the latter’s colossal comic book failure didn’t even step in front of cameras, but it still lives on in infamy.
George Miller’s Justice League: Mortal has become the stuff of legend after the $220 million all-star epic assembled a cast, crew, costumes, and shooting locations, only for Warner Bros. to pull the plug months before shooting was set to begin. Brody was in line to play the Flash, but while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in the aftermath of Fury of the Gods flopping, he didn’t seem too bothered by the second black mark against his spandex-clad legacy.
“Well, I guess I scratched the itch. Sure. Maybe. But honestly, I would say that probably has more to do with my age than the breadth of the part itself. It was, and is, very fun and interesting to play in this space as someone who hadn’t done it before. Just the sheer scale of it is a kick, and I hope I’m not done with superhero stuff. But at the same time, if my interest has waned at all, it probably has more to do with my age than it has to do with having my fill by being Freddy.”
If Shazam! 3 doesn’t happen – and it’s certainly not looking likely at this stage – then the ship may have sailed on Brody’s superheroic career, but at least he managed to leave behind a legacy of some description, even if it’s one that he’d rather not have.