'Shazam' Probably Won't Be Involved In 'Justice League'

Earlier today, when talking about revelations from The Rock that he's playing Black Adam in Shazam, we wondered if either Captain Marvel / Shazam or Black Adam might be introduced in Batman v Superman or Justice League. Turns out that's not likely to happen. While Shazam is being treated as a DC property, the film is being assembled by New Line rather than Warner Bros. As such, it will likely be outside the parameters of the Justice League story. Get the Shazam Justice League info we have below.

EW spoke to Toby Emmerich at New Line, who explained,

It feels to me like Shazam will have a tone unto itself. It's a DC comic, but it's not a Justice League character, and it's not a Marvel comic. The tone and the feeling of the movie will be different from the other range of comic book movies.

Specifically, the film will be fun. So whether or not contested reports of WB's "no funny hero movies" rule are true, Shazam will be able to forge its own path. Emmerich said,

[Shazam] will have a sense of fun and a sense of humor. But the stakes have to be real. ... Black Adam is a complex character. The villain in superhero movies is often, I think, what makes the movie. And I thought Dwayne's take on the character, and the way that he saw Black Adam, was really compelling and fun.

Reading between the lines of the Rock's announcement this morning you might have had images of his Fast and the Furious series character in mind, and Toby Emmerich evidently referenced that role as a touchstone for Black Adam when talking to EW.

As for the particulars of Black Adam's history, not to mention casting for Shazam and alter-ego Billy Batson, we'll have to wait for details of Darren Lemke's script.

Billy Batson is a teen who is given access to the power of six mythological personalities, Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, by speaking the word "shazam." The hero who emerges when the word is uttered is physically larger and older than Batson, and in some conceptions retains Batson's teen intelligence and personality. The hero in question was originally named Captain Marvel, but trademark disputes with Marvel Comics led to an informal renaming, and eventually fully renamed Shazam in DC's "New 52" revamp. The character has also become continually more magic-oriented over the years.

We don't know if Shazam and Batson will be played by two different actors, or if digital work might be used to turn a young actor playing Batson into the bigger, seemingly older Shazam.