Shazam! is fast approaching and Warner Bros. recently invited a number of journalists to check out some footage from the movie and to take part in a roundtable interview with director David F. Sandberg and producer Peter Safran.
We've rounded up some highlights from the latter and there are some great new reveals here, including confirmation on the post-credits scene and running time along with updates on possible plans (or not) for the likes of Henry Cavill's Superman and Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam to appear.
Another Shazam! trailer is expected to arrive at some point in the near future and with April fast approaching, that can't be too far away as the studio needs to start giving this one a big push.
For now, check out these new details about the movie by hitting the "View List" button below.
Has Henry Cavill Shot A Cameo As Superman?
There have been a lot of rumblings about a Superman cameo in Shazam! with some recent reports claiming that we'll see the Man of Steel from the neck down and that Henry Cavill has already shot scenes for the movie which will only be used if he agrees to a new contract with Warner Bros.
While Superman is namechecked in Shazam!, Peter Safran was coy when asked about the possibility of him making an appearance here and instead talked about the studio not forcing them to include anything from the wider DC Extended Universe.
"We have fun with all the things around it, but first and foremost it’s Shazam’s story," he explains. "The producer later said that there was never any attempt from Warner Bros. -- which has infamously see-sawed on establishing a DC shared cinematic universe to simply taking things one movie at a time -- "to try and shoehorn it into any sort of existing storylines or universe, etc."
Plans For A Post-Credits Scene
So, Superman's status for Shazam! may be somewhat unclear but Safran did at least confirm that a lot of work went into coming up with a post-credits scene that fans will definitely appreciate.
"I think it’s probably the same decision-making that one has on all these movies, which is, what’s going to be fun, what’s going to be satisfying for the audience, what’s going to be a nice punctuation mark at the end of the movie that, again, is going to be satisfying for the audience. So that’s the debate you always have. We had a lot of options. I think we ended up with something good."
It has to be some sort of tease for the future but there's one person who sadly won't appear...
Don't Expect To See Black Adam
Shazam and Black Adam were supposed to appear in the same movie before Dwayne Johnson convinced Warner Bros. to give the latter his own movie. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any real movement on that front and Safran confirms that there were never any plans for him to appear here.
"Complete myth. He might have been available. That’s the only thing about that statement that might be true. I don’t know if he was or not," Safran said. "But, no, there was never a conversation with him about a post-credits sequence. Truly, never."
It sounds like the door is definitely open to them meeting somewhere down the line but that isn't the plan here which is bound to disappoint those who were hoping for at least some sort of tease. "He’s a perfect adversary so one would hope that eventually you’d see those two onscreen together at some point but it’s not going to be in this one."
Hardcore DC Fans Will Appreciate The Easter Eggs
Shazam! marks the DCEU's first real foray into magic and it sounds like we can look forward to a lot of Easter Eggs in that respect. "You saw a little bit of it when he comes into the Rock of Eternity, it’s likely you saw, like, artifacts and things that are from, like, really old comics," director David F. Sandberg says. "So I think very few people might go, 'Oh, I know where exactly all those are from.'"
The Running Time Revealed
With talk of Avengers: Endgame having a whopping three-hour runtime, how does 2019's sole DC Comics movie compare? Well, Safran reportedly told journalists that it should end up being roughly two hours long which is about what you'd expect for an origin story which likely sets the stage for the character to take on a key role in the new, brighter DC Extended Universe moving forward.
The Seven Deadly Sins Are Coming
Confirming once and for all that the Seven Deadly Sins will indeed play a role in Shazam!, Safran explains that their inclusion was done as a way of allowing Sandberg to return to his horror roots.
"I think, I mean obviously these guys have read the comics, they know that the Sins are going to be some way involved in the story. But without revealing exactly how they're integrated into the storyline, you know I would that that's probably as close as what James did with the Trench to really let David flex, you know, that kind of... to build those sequences that are scary and cool."
If the Sins are even half as creepy and frightening as The Trench, then it's fair to say that we'll be in for a treat when the movie hits.
Many thanks to IGN and Screen Rant for the quotes used in this article.