The next DCEU film to enter production will be Shazam! Thanks to our friends at The Hollywood Reporter, we now know that director David F. Sandberg’s film will begin shooting in early 2018 for release in 2019. Shazam! follows young orphan Billy Batson (who is not Batman’s son) who gains the power of the Living Lightning and becomes the hero Shazam. Originally, the character was called Captain Marvel, but you can imagine the licensing issues that DC ran into there.
After the success of the extremely hopeful and positive Wonder Woman, it appears DC will be leaning a bit further into its lighter side. Since Shazam is a kid in the body of a near-god, we hope to see some of the childlike wonder and glee that would come with a kid attaining superhuman abilities. The Wonder Woman comparison goes further than that, though, as Shazam’s power comes from various mythical gods and heroes, such as Zeus, Ares, and Hercules. Can you say team up movie? Maybe we’ll even see Wonder Woman mentor the young hero, much like the relationship between Iron Man and Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
UPDATE: According to IGN, Dwayne Johnson will not, in fact, appear in the film. However, he will still star in the Black Adam solo film.
We do not know yet if Dwayne Johnson will appear to play villain Black Adam in the film, though it’s likely considering Black Adam is Shazam’s nemesis. Johnson was recently cast to play the villain in the Black Adam spinoff film, which is also in development.
How badly do you want to see Shazam onscreen? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter.
Image: DC Comics
