‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ almost had two major ‘Justice League’ cameos

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is finally released this week amidst all the major changes that are happening over at DC right now. The film will be helping to close out the DC Extended Universe and has a small cameo from another one of DC’s major players who fans will be saying goodbye to after this. It is now revealed that Wonder Woman wasn’t the only cameo planned for Shazam! though.

Fury of the Gods is already garnering positive reviews, with critics citing that though the film is a little much at times, it has a strong enough emotional thread to keep it all held together, and Helen Mirren is, of course, fabulous. The film also benefits from the small cameo of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman whom we knew would be making an appearance thanks to a teaser trailer released prior. Wonder Woman was not the only major Justice League character that initially had a cameo though.

Speaking to ComicBook, director David F. Sandberg revealed that both Batman and Superman were originally slated to join in. He mentioned that one of the elements in the film could have warranted a visit from two of DC’s major players “Yeah. I mean, we get around it a little bit because we have a big dome surrounding, a big force field dome surrounding. Stole that from The Simpsons.”

The director went on to add that the logistics of bringing them in were too difficult though.

“I did early on think like we should have a scene, at least on a news report or something, where you can see from far away something like Superman trying to get in or Batman standing outside, pounding the dome or something. That was dropped pretty quickly, because that also opens up a whole nother can of worms because then you really start thinking about it. Well, yeah, clearly they are here, so what’s going on?” 

Given that critics are already saying that the movie feels a little overstuffed at times, it may be a good thing that they didn’t add another element to it. Though lacking in a Superman or a Batman, the film is being praised for having a lot of fun and contrasts to some of the grittier DC offerings of late.

We don’t know what the future holds for Shazam! and the foster family given the shake-ups that are happening over there, but positive reviews can only help their cause.

You can now catch Shazam! Fury of the Gods in theaters.