Warner Bros. has a lot of DC Extended Universe movies set to come out over the next few years, and none of them are as shrouded in mystery as Shazam! Back in 2014, it was announced that Shazam! would feature Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as antagonist Black Adam, and that’s still about all we know. At this point, the project seems to be running on the power of The Rock’s unending enthusiasm and very little else.
Well, after a long period of radio silence, The Rock’s producer Hiram Garcia has finally stepped in and provided a bit of a Shazam! update. First off, it sounds like things actually are progressing well behind the scenes…
“We’re a good way into development. We’re expecting a next draft soon which I think is really gonna put us in the zone that we’re hoping for.”
As for the tone of Shazam!, Garcia promised it will be grounded, but ultimately lighter than what we’ve seen from Man of Steel and Batman v Superman. He even evokes the name of mighty Marvel when talking about the direction of Shazam!:
“We have a character in Shazam that is a boy who is in this man’s body who is having the ultimate fulfillment that I think all comic book fans and everyone can associate with. Then on the other side, you have this force of nature [Black Adam] who is really anchored by what he lost in his family and he’s bringing that with him throughout this journey. There’s a real grounding there. It makes for a great dynamic that not only allows us to not only have real stakes, real story, and real emotion, but a ton of fun in the process. Marvel has, everyone knows, really locked into that place where they’re able to tell you really grounded, rooted stories that have real repercussions and there’s a real wake that’s left after, but through the whole process they still acknowledge that, and you have a blast while you’re watching. I promise you, we’re not gonna f*ck this up!”
Garcia didn’t drop much in the way of plot specifics, although he did mention Mark Waid and Alex Ross’ Kingdom Come by name. It’s an interesting choice, as in that storyline Shazam is mostly controlled and manipulated by Lex Luthor and other outside forces. Could it be a hint at how the character will be used in the wider DC Extended Universe? I suppose we’ll see.
Shazam! is currently slated for an April 4, 2019 release.
(Via Comic Book)
