Maybe Black Adam‘s mediocre performance at the box office wasn’t the worst thing to ever happen to DC in the long run. Also, it looks as if James Gunn is definitely not meddling with Shazam! Fury of the Gods, for better or for worse, and speaking of that, maybe Zachary Levi could use a little social media break.
Full-blown success for ‘Back Adam’ might have made Dwayne Johnson DC’s ‘Rock’ of eternity
Black Adam‘s failure to launch had a lot of different after-effects and was probably a large factor in Peter Safran and James Gunn being handed the reins of DC studios as the new co-CEOs. But while the lack of box office success certainly must have been a huge disappointment to Warner Bros. Discovery, it also might have also mitigated the existence of an alternate future DC Studios where control was handed off to Dwayne Johnson and his production company, Seven Bucks.
Johnson’s team most definitely had plans for going forward with multiple spin-offs and Black Adam sequels had the film won the hearts of the DC fandom. Johnson even went so far as to proclaim the anti-hero film “Phase One” of his plan to dominate the DC cinematic universe.
Fans can mourn the loss of Henry Cavill as Superman all they want — but perhaps they are better off spared seeing him constantly fighting (and likely getting bested by) Black Adam in an alternate timeline known as the Johnsonverse.
It looks like James Gunn’s official Shazam! policy is ‘Hands off’
James Gunn may have inherited the task of reorganizing the DC cinematic universe that The Rock had designs on, but there’s one project that seems to have fully escaped his oversight. During a recent Reddit forum, Shazam! Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg revealed that the entire film was completed and in the can before Gunn and co-Ceo Peter Safran took up their new roles with the studio.
Fans of the original film can rejoice a bit that they’ll be watching an unexpurgated film, although it will mean that anyone looking forward to the new DCU reboot won’t be getting any previews if they go to see the movie. Although, given the current low expectations that have been set for the film’s box office receipts, maybe they could have used a good post-credits scene featuring Bruce Wayne or Barry Allen.
Zachary Levi falls out of the internet frying pan and straight into the online fire with his latest Insta-take
Perhaps Zachary Levi is as immune to pain as his red-suited big-screen character Shazam. He certainly seems to like being in hot water. At least metaphorically. Levi recently achieved negative notoriety for the upcoming Shazam! Fury of the Gods when he seemingly outed himself as critical of the Covid Vaccine and its manufacturer, Pfizer. The social media gaffe made enough waves that CEO James Gunn himself had to address it during his “Gods and Monsters” announcement of the future slate of DC projects.
One would think that someone — Levi’s publicist, if no one else — would have had a stern word with him in. re. laying low on his socials until his new movie was safely in theaters, but if he was talked to, it appears the message was absolutely not received, given his recent Instagram hot take. Levi’s Instagram Story appears to be mocking Britney Spears’ controversial conservatorship, from which she was finally released from only last year. The story featured a mock tabloid headline that stated Spears fans were reversing their opinions on the “Free Britney” hashtag that trended in the months before her conservatorship hearing.
It might be a good idea for someone to take Levi’s phone away until Fury of the Gods hits theaters on March 17. Otherwise, his red suit might become a pink slip no matter how close he is to Gunn and Safran in real life.