Even before he was unceremoniously dumped from the DCU in the wake of Black Adam under-performing at the box office to leave new co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran unimpressed, the chances of seeing Dwayne Johnson square off against Zachary Levi’s Shazam on the big screen were already looking pretty thin.
Reports offered that not only did The Rock have a thinly-veiled disdain for David F. Sandberg’s acclaimed superhero blockbuster, but he allegedly turned down the opportunity to make a cameo appearance in upcoming sequel Fury of the Gods. It’s worth pointing out that Johnson’s Seven Bucks are part of the producorial team on both installments, which makes it seem even more clear that attaching itself to Shazam! was a method of getting closer to Superman above anything else.
However, since the newest trailer for Fury of the Gods dropped yesterday, those to find themselves underwhelmed by what was on offer are beginning to think that maybe the short-lived Man in Black had a point when he said “thanks but no thanks” to the opportunity.
As the first DCU release of the Gunn and Safran era, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is already being placed under a harsher spotlight than usual, because you just know the haters are going to be out in force if it fails to match Black Adam from a commercial standpoint. Even if Johnson did survive the axe and continued to be part of the DCU to this day, it may transpire that he dodged a bullet if the critics get the worst-case scenario a lot of them are hoping for.