As the headline says, Warner Bros. is apparently splitting SHAZAM! into two films – with one film focusing entirely on The Rock's BLACK ADAM.
Now SHAZAM! stories follow ten-year old Billy Batson who finds an old wizard who gives him the power to turn into a superhero by yelling, well, SHAZAM!. Meanwhile, Batson’s superhero persona has pretty much all the powers of Superman (in fact, a copyright infringement suit was filed and settled out of court for this very reason).
Meanwhile, Black Adam is Shazam's arch-nemesis, who was a disgraced ancient Egyptian predecessor to Billy with the same Shazam! powers. While originally a total villain, he has been re-invented as more of an anti-hero.
Now, maybe it's just me, but I don't know anyone who's favorite character is Shazam, let alone Black Adam. While the wish-fulfillment aspect of Shazam! is interesting, that kind of "gee whiz!" superhero story seems at odds with the grimdark DCEU. Let's hope JUSTICE LEAGUE really is the palatte cleanser WB is claiming it is, and we can have a fun, light-hearted SHAZAM! movie.
No firm release date has been set, but neither SHAZAM not BLACK ADAM will reach theaters until 2019, the earliest.
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