James Gunn stuck between The Rock and a hard place as ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ leads to widespread backstabbing

Just when you thought the infighting and backstabbing at Warner Bros. and DC Studios was over with the installation of James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-CEOs, along comes Shazam! Fury of the Gods to open a contentious can of worms that’s got nothing to do with the fact the superhero sequel cratered at the box office.

Zachary Levi – who happens to be a close personal friend of the new bosses – recently deleted a tweet where he laid the blame for his second solo outing’s dismal opening weekend at the feet of the studio’s marketing machine. By removing it from his timeline, it appears as though he may have been acting a little hastily, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

The actor also gave his backing to rumors that not only did Dwayne Johnson reject the chance to make a cameo appearance in Fury of the Gods, but he also nixed the prospect of having Levi return the favor in Black Adam to shunt the candy-colored hero into the orbit of the Justice Society.

While The Rock has remained silent on the matter, what we have in essence is Levi blaming Warner Bros. for Shazam! flopping at the same time he’s blaming Johnson for turning down the chance to set the stage for a crossover, all while Gunn deals with his first theatrical release since being appointed tanking at the box office, with the one-and-done Man in Black remaining steadfastly silent on the matter.

It’s a complete and utter sh*t-show to put it lightly, but it just goes to show that Warner Bros. has yet to drop its worst habits of conjuring up no shortage of behind the scenes blame games and betrayals.