Shazam! was packed full of references to the wider DCEU (perhaps a few too many if we're being honest), and ended with an appearance from Superman. Well, kind of.
When Henry Cavill and Warner Bros. reportedly hit an impasse on money, a stuntman was enlisted to don the actor's costume and the Man of Steel appeared without ever showing his face. It was a fun moment, but one Shazam! Fury of the Gods promises to make up for with an actual cameo appearance from [SPOILER WARNING!] Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman.
During a recent conversation with ComicBook.com, director David F. Sandberg revealed scrapped plans for Superman and Batman to also make their presence felt in this sequel.
Talking about the dome surrounding Billy Batson's battle with the Daughters of Atlas, the filmmaker explained: "I did [think] early on [that] 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," he adds. "Well, yeah, clearly they are here, so what's going on?"
Based on what Sandberg says here, it doesn't sound like we'd have seen Cavill or Ben Affleck reprise their respective roles, with the heroes instead shown from far enough away that Shazam! Fury of the Gods could have been ambiguous about their identities.
In its later days, the DCEU made faceless cameos something of a trope, with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all hidden in the shadows during Peacemaker's finale, for example. Cavill did show up as the Man of Tomorrow in Black Adam's post-credits scene, but the less said about that, the better.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now playing in theaters.