WARNING: This article contains spoilers about the post-credits scene of Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Read at your own risk.
The first post-credits scene of Shazam! Fury of the Gods featured cameo appearances of The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker characters Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) as they recruit Shazam to become part of the Justice Society of America.
Considering all the incoming changes in the DCU franchise, it remains to be seen whether that tease will lead to anything in the future or it will simply become a remnant of the previous DCEU regime before James Gunn and Peter Safran took over late last year.
Nevertheless, the post-credits scenes showed a connective tissue with the rest of the DCEU (aside from Wonder Woman's cameo near the end of the film) and teased that Shazam will finally become part of a superhero group.
However, that wasn't the original plan as it was revealed recently that the actual JSA heroes were supposed to do the recruitment during the first post-credits scene until the plans fell last minute and they were replaced by the A.R.G.U.S. agents. So why did that happen? Now, it looks like we have the answer.
A report from TheWrap revealed that Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson was responsible for nixing the plans to include the actors from his film for cameo appearances in the sequel's post-credits scene which is why they only went with Holland and Agee to do the special appearance instead.
Not only that, but they also claimed that Johnson also stopped the original plan for Black Adam's post-credits scene which would have seen Aldis Hodge's Hawkman and other JSA heroes reach out to Shazam to join the group.
It is unknown why Johnson vetoed the ideas for both films although it does show that the actor had strong decision-making power back when he was still involved in the DC franchise and it is a hint of what they were planning to do before the Gunn and Safran takeover.
From a storytelling perspective, it would have made more sense if the JSA heroes themselves did the recruitment since they are the actual members. While Harcourt and Economos still make sense since they work for Amanda Waller and have tie-ins with the JSA (as shown in Black Adam), someone like Hawkman would have been a much better candidate to do it.
Now, the management of the DC franchise has changed since then and Johnson is no longer involved anytime soon. It is interesting to see how the new iteration will address the soon-to-end DCEU chapter and whether some of them will be part of it moving forward.
Also Read: Zachary Levi Defends Shazam! Has A Place in James Gunn’s DCU
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is showing in theaters everywhere. You can check more details about it here.
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