One week after its theatrical debut, Shazam! Fury of the Gods continues to perform well below expectations at the box office. Regardless, headliner Zachary Levi is still putting on a brave face and doing whatever he can to convince people to see the movie, including reaching out to fans directly via Instagram. But during his latest livestream session, Levi found himself addressing a topic of far greater controversy. Earlier this week, The Wrap reported that Black Adam’s Dwayne Johnson rejected an appearance by Levi’s Shazam in his own DC film’s post-credits scene. Not long after the story was published, Levi seemed to back up these claims on his Instagram stories. Now, it appears that he has even more to say regarding the situation.
“I may or may not have, you know, reposted something in my stories about a story that I had nothing to do with, that [The Wrap] had reported on,” said Levi (via EW). “And then I got flak about it, because people were saying, ‘What are you doing? You’re trying to blame this guy because your movie’s not doing well.’ Listen, I haven’t blamed anybody. There’s not one single person that I have blamed for anything about the way that our movie has performed.”
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Levi never mentioned Johnson by name. However, he did confirm that Shazam was meant to appear in one of Black Adam’s post-credits scenes, where he would have been recruited to join the Justice Society by Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell).
Unfortunately, the filmmakers were ultimately “thwarted” in the efforts, and had to settle for a reworked version of that scene in Fury of the Gods with an appearance by The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker mainstays Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) in place of any JSA members. Holland’s appearance also brought out fans who claimed that DC Studios’ co-CEO James Gunn had put his wife in the film even though the movie was completed before he was hired.
“People are slagging on James Gunn because… we used Jennifer and Steve in that scene in [Fury of the Gods],” added Levi. “That was not the original intent. The original intent was to have Hawkman and Cyclone be there inviting me into the Justice Society. Walter Hamada, Peter Safran, David Sandberg… We had an awesome scene and we were thwarted… I’m merely coming to the defense of the truth. Truth is good. We should all live it.”
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now playing in theaters everywhere.
What do you make of Levi’s newest comments? Let us know in the comment section below!
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