Does the wizard Shazam become Papa Midnite in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods?’

Right now, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is out and not making much of an impact. It has a divisive critical reception, stands as a box-office stinker, and had several of its planned connections to other projects nuked by Dwayne Johnson’s Rock-sized ego. However, there are some bits near its end that may point toward the future, and one could have an actor back in an old role.

For those who have not seen the project (and, yes, we know there are many of you), there will be spoilers in the sentence after this. Specifically, as the story comes to an end and the villains are defeated, Djimon Hounsou’s wizard named Shazam takes up residence on the Earth we all know (and sometimes dream of escaping). He is wearing a hat and cravat, and while fashion may not be something average people pick up on, it is strikingly similar to the outfit he wore as Papa Midnite in the 2005 Constantine film.

A sequel to this film is in development, and while the DCU is going to be reset and some future films will be firmly labeled as taking place outside of the mainline franchise continuity, it is possible Hounsou could return to play the role once more — and it could be a combination. After all, The Flash movie will reset the reality some fans know and love, James Gunn has said there will be R and PG-13-rated films under his watch, and sometimes many characters do get merged.

On Smallville, Tess Mercer is a consolidation of several female characters from the source material. In the earlier DCEU structure from Zack Snyder, Doomsday comes from the corpse of General Zod, and Marvel has often mixed and matched to whatever they feel best fits their films. Whatever happens, audiences will have to just wait and see whether this is a nod to the future or just a fun homage to a somewhat overlooked film from the past. As well, for Hounsou, here’s hoping he earns more. Given his history, it is a bit surprising he is saying in new reports he still struggles to get paid what he is worth in film despite being a prior Oscar nominee. The man can act, loves his comic book movies, and appears in them for very noble intentions. Please, Gunn, give him a big check.