Zachary Levi Seemingly Backs Claim That Dwayne Johnson Blocked SHAZAM! 2 Mid-Credits Cameos

Zachary Levi Seemingly Backs Claim That Dwayne Johnson Blocked SHAZAM! 2 Mid-Credits Cameos Zachary Levi Seemingly Backs Claim That Dwayne Johnson Blocked SHAZAM! 2 Mid-Credits Cameos

Earlier today, a report claimed that Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson had basically "kneecapped" his own movie and the Shazam! sequel, and star Zachary Levi now weighed-in...

By MarkCassidy - Mar 21, 2023 08:03 PM EST

We had heard that Black Adam star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was attempting to position himself as a major DC power player prior to the movie's release, but today's report from The Wrap suggested that the actor's ego may be even more out of control than we'd been led to believe.

Apparently, Johnson had no interest in having Shazam cameo in Black Adam's post-credits scene to set up a future crossover, and actually prevented Justice Society characters from appearing in the mid-credits sequence of Fury of the Gods, forcing director David F. Sandberg to make last-minute changes.

Sandberg has already confirmed that the scene “fell apart three days before we were going to roll cameras,” and star Zachary Levi now appears to have backed-up today's report.

The actor shared the following to his Instagram stories.

Johnson clearly wanted Black Adam to remain separate from the more light-hearted Shazam! franchise, and was evidently in a position to veto Sandberg's request. 

Was being the operative word.

Things have changed since, with James Gunn and Peter Safran taking over as DC Studios co-heads. Johnson is highly unlikely to play Teth Adam again, and things don't look great for more Shazam! movies, either.

Johnson has yet to share a response, but it probably won't be too long before he Tweets something, so be sure to keep an eye out for updates.

SHAZAM! Star Believes Franchise Will Likely Only Continue If It's With A BLACK ADAM Thing
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ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 3/21/2023, 8:06 PM
Props for the thumbnail. Got a good laugh.
Kadara
Kadara - 3/21/2023, 9:19 PM
@ModHaterSLADE - I literally just came here to say the same thing LMAO!!
whynot
whynot - 3/21/2023, 9:22 PM
@ModHaterSLADE - hilarious
tmp3
tmp3 - 3/21/2023, 8:09 PM
filming wrapped, not sure why levi’s still in character as a 40 year old man with the mentality of a middle schooler.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 3/21/2023, 8:13 PM
@tmp3 - It's called sardonic humor.
tmp3
tmp3 - 3/21/2023, 8:15 PM
@NinnesMBC - there was no need for him to comment at all, it looks unprofessional. gunn didn’t post an instagram story over affleck publicly saying he’s never directing a gunn dc film, not sure why levi felt the need to say this
pitbull76
pitbull76 - 3/21/2023, 8:21 PM
@tmp3 - yea like what the hell it's like if The Rock claimed in a interview Black Adam performed well it was just a couple of online reviews that didn't like it.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 3/21/2023, 9:07 PM
@tmp3 - Because Gunn is in charge of DC Studios and likely that particular subject has to be treated with extra carefulness compared to his usual daily tweets he makes and likely it's all being handled by WBD PR etc. Maybe you are right, but considering this affected Sandberg's film and everyone else + Levi might really just be in his last days as part of the DCEU, might not have anything else to lose at this point.
Kadara
Kadara - 3/21/2023, 9:20 PM
@NinnesMBC - Exactimundo!
PartyKiller
PartyKiller - 3/21/2023, 8:09 PM
Zachary Levi - "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Fanmar16
Fanmar16 - 3/21/2023, 8:09 PM
oh lord, there we go again

TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 3/21/2023, 8:13 PM
@Fanmar16 - that’s pretty good choreography, or really terrible fighting
B89
B89 - 3/21/2023, 10:05 PM
@TheWalkingCuban - judging by their shirts pretty sure they are rocking out thinking they are in a death pit at a metal concert haha
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 3/21/2023, 10:54 PM
@B89 -
B89
B89 - 3/21/2023, 11:58 PM
@TheWalkingCuban - haha yeh pretty much
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 3/22/2023, 12:28 AM
@B89 - the shirting, the rocking, the thinking, it’s a perfect match
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 3/21/2023, 8:11 PM
Guess they’re fighting after all. In a sense. After the Vin Diesel texting battle, I just don’t think Dwayne’s going back to real fighting.

“Social media made you all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”
-Mike Tyson


-the Rock
-Michael Scott
-the Walking Cuban
Kadara
Kadara - 3/21/2023, 9:23 PM
@TheWalkingCuban - Out of all things, I never seen you being disrespectful Cuban. Don't start now😏
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 3/21/2023, 9:27 PM
@Kadara - dang it. Fine. I made no friends buying a spork!
Matador
Matador - 3/22/2023, 8:34 AM
@TheWalkingCuban - That's cause there no chopsticks.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 3/22/2023, 8:55 AM
@Matador - right? They DONT wanna hurt the environment by using a self replacing source like wood. They DONT wanna bother the dishwasher while he’s making Tiktoks. And they don’t wanna leave money on the table with FREE sporks… and so we pay.

DEARLY.
comicfan100
comicfan100 - 3/21/2023, 8:11 PM
To go from "please, Dwayne Johnson, save the Snyderverse" to this is quite the sight to behold.
dracula
dracula - 3/21/2023, 9:27 PM
@comicfan100 -

Best part is johnson gave the cult what they wanted and still failed

Cult of snyder:
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 3/21/2023, 8:12 PM
Sad to see confirmed that he really was positioning himself as the biggest guy in the room and putting in jeopardy everything.

However, there's no way he could've done all of this (going around DC Films brass to get Henry Cavill back for that cameo and veto-ing the JSA for Shazam's post credit scenes) if he didn't have in the first place Zaslav's seal of approval.

So the way that I see it, this whole mess is co-shared by both The Rock and Zaslav.

But Batgirl was the one that was going to "harm the brand of DC" and Safran called the scrapping of it by his new boss as a "courageous thing to do".

What a stupid and hilarious executive mess.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 3/21/2023, 9:46 PM
@NinnesMBC - I love to see it. The more I hear about the Rock and his ridiculous ego, the more I dislike him.
OmegaDaGrodd
OmegaDaGrodd - 3/21/2023, 8:13 PM
Every time you think the DCEU can't be more unserious it swoops in to surpass expectations
RealTurner
RealTurner - 3/21/2023, 8:17 PM
And if they had the cameos someone would have just spoiled them before the movie. Wonder Woman cameo couldn't save the movie; actors from far less successful BA wouldn't have made a dent in this.
KingMob20
KingMob20 - 3/21/2023, 8:50 PM
@RealTurner - no but it would've been cooler than seeing those 2 paperweights from The Suicide Squad
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 3/22/2023, 7:08 AM
@RealTurner - Exactly! The JSA made no sense in Black Adam and they would have made no sense in Shazam. It's moves like this that are driving the GA away from the superhero genre. It's like YouTube-fan-film-level thinking. Just throwing random superheroes in there and expecting the audience to be wowed.

What self-respecting artist puts human beings with random superpowers in a movie universe with zero explanation for why they actually have superpowers in the first place? Apparently this is something that The Rock, Sandberg and Snyder have in common.
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 3/22/2023, 9:34 AM
@ObserverIO - this was such a botched opportunity

Shazam 1: tease BA, don’t give it too much attention

Shazam 2: holy shit Billy, the original champion is back and maybe the plot is he wants to kill Billy and the wizard to have the power for himself for whatever reason. Billy wins doesn’t kill him, BA wakes up post defeat in a post credits ready to begin his redemption

BA: the redemption movie where Dwayne can have his anti-hero nonsense

It was right [frick]ing there
santoanderson
santoanderson - 3/21/2023, 8:18 PM
This simply reenforces my belief that The Rock never wanted to play Black Adam because he was a huge fan of the character, and wanted to do it justice. He signed on to play Black Adam because he wanted to star in a movie where he, The Rock, gets to fight Superman and win. The character he would play to achieve that goal was totally ancillary.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 3/21/2023, 8:30 PM
@santoanderson - I believe it. And all he needed to do was play Metallo. But it goes to show you how out of touch Dwayne Johnson is with the source material.
DiegoMD
DiegoMD - 3/21/2023, 8:41 PM
@SonOfAGif - He could´ve been goos as a Mongul type villain too
DTor91
DTor91 - 3/21/2023, 9:33 PM
@santoanderson - 100%

When the movie was being marketed, some of the comics had interviews leading up to the movies and the Rock said something along the lines of, “reading Black Adam as a kid and always seeing himself in the character.”

Like…alright buddy. Sure.
videovac
videovac - 3/22/2023, 2:25 PM
"This simply reenforces my belief that The Rock never wanted to play Black Adam because he was a huge fan of the character, and wanted to do it justice. He signed on to play Black Adam because he wanted to star in a movie where he, The Rock, gets to fight Superman and win. The character he would play to achieve that goal was totally ancillary." - @santoanderson

Finally someone f_ckin' gets it. All these dumbass posts that get put on here, and the internet in general, and it took THIS long for someone to speak up and say it. These Hollywood actors don't give a flyin' f_ck about comic books. Hell, half the people here and in general don't either. It's all a stepping stone and a paycheck and an ego trip for them. An extremely small amount actually want to make a creative flick, but the rest have Rock's vanity and just wanna shit something out, rob you blind, and make haste before you wake up and realize what happened.

I don't wanna name names but it's scary how many of you defend corporations that don't give a shit about you.
videovac
videovac - 3/22/2023, 2:27 PM
"all he needed to do was play Metallo." - @SonOfAGif

"Metallo"? WHAT?!?!?! The f_ck about The Rock makes you think he would have been a good Metallo? Do you even "know" the character? Are y'all standards this low?
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