Actor uses Bible quote to expose fellow cast members.
This Tuesday (21st), portal The Wrap published a lengthy report on alleged direct interference by Dwayne Johnson, The Rock, in a postcredits scene for Shazam! God’s Wrath. Zachary Levi, the film’s protagonist, didn’t take long to confirm the behindthescenes friction, sharing the account on his Instagram page, saying: “The truth will set you free.”
The actor refers to a popular passage from the Bible contained in the book of John. Despite a clear attempt to publicly distance Shazam’s image from its main villain, Black Adam, Johnson’s private moves to remove the characters had not yet been confirmed.
“The truth will set you free,” Zachary Levi said.
In the original version, after the events of Shazam 2, the hero was recruited directly by Hawkman to join the Justice Society. However, in the cut shown in cinemas, Harcourt and Economos, characters from Pacifier, ended up replacing Aldis Hodge’s character in this task.
The change, which came as a result of producer Dwayne Johnson blocking the use of characters introduced in his film, was announced at the last minute. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director David F Sandberg confirmed that the scene “It broke three days before we started shooting.”
Shazam! Wrath of the Gods would feature characters from Black Adam (C. Warner).
Confirmation of Johnson’s intervention reignited rumors that the producer also stopped Shazam from appearing in Black Adam’s postcredits scene in favor of a return of Henry Cavill’s Superman. This move, seen as part of the producer’s attempt to wrest creative control away from DC in the film, was reversed with the hiring of James Gunn and Peter Safran as heads of DC Studios.
Under the new leadership, the studio decided not to go ahead with Henry Cavill, canceling Man of Steel 2 and completely excluding Black Adam from the company’s near future. Without Johnson, the first phase of the new DC Universe begins 2025 with the premiere of Superman: Legacy, a film that follows the beginning of the hero’s career, played by a new actor who has not yet been announced.
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