Entertainment

Why It’s Pretty Unlikely That Wonder Woman & Shazam Will Meet Anytime Soon

by Danielle Burgos
Warner Bros. Pictures

The DCEU's latest film Shazam!, out April 5, takes a lighter look at superheroes, with someone finally getting all the fun of insanely cool powers without the heaviness of their parents dying or their entire island getting attacked and their boyfriend dying...or their parents and entire planet dying, and so on. Speaking of the entire Justice League, with DC continuing to roll out movies based on their extended universe of characters, it's natural for fans to wonder whether there will be some crossover. Is Wonder Woman in Shazam!? Despite other members of the squad getting the offer, it seems unlikely that Gal Gadot's Amazonian will make an appearance in this latest take on superhero shenanigans.

For those unfamiliar, Shazam took the original intended market for superhero comics, kids, to the next logical level. Shazam is a kid, Billy Batson, who by saying his own all-powerful title (Shazam is actually an acronym name-checking his power sources, according to DC Comics), turns from young man into fully-adult caped crusader. The film makes this change the focus, with 14-year-old Billy and his superhero-obsessed foster brother Freddy exploring his powers and the side perks of being a kid in an adult body. Speaking to Yahoo, actor Zachary Levi, who plays the adult Shazam, compares it to a classic '80s film. "I love that I get to play a superhero who is really a 14-year-old kid inside," he said. "I've always been a fan of the movie Big, and I feel like this is my Big. That I get to do it as a superhero is double trouble awesome."

Billy (Asher Angel) and Freddy (Jack Dylan Frazer) don't just exist in a universe with superheroes, they're also fans of them, so it would make sense there'd be some cameo appearances from the rest of the DC Universe. In fact, Henry Cavill's Superman was slated to show up in Shazam!, but The Hollywood Reporter claims that anonymous sources said that, due to contract negotiation breakdowns between Cavill and Warner Bros., his Superman is off the table for the foreseeable future. Though the Dark Knight does show up in toy form in the movie's trailer, it's not the voice of recent DCEU Batman actor Ben Affleck or OG Batman: The Animated Series actor Kevin Conroy, as some fans on Reddit thought. Shazam! David Sandberg burst their bubble, confirming that it was the film's sound supervisor doing an impersonation.

As for Wonder Woman, it doesn't look like Princess Diana's going to cross paths with Billy Batson any time soon, especially as filming for her own sequel was underway for quite some time. Though, as ScreenRant notes, if it was possible for Zack Snyder to film The Flash's Suicide Squad cameo on the Justice League set, could it really be that difficult to get over to Patty Jenkins' set and directly tie Shazam and Wonder Woman together?

Funny enough, there will be a cameo appearance from director Sandberg's previous film Lights Out, a horror picture that aside from a lot of DC figurines in the background, didn't have any hint of being in the DC universe. CBR.com reports that in response to a Twitter fan query whether there'd be any crossover with his previous film Annabelle: Creation, Sandberg said "On an Easter egg level, yes," then added, "Also a character from Lights Out is in Shazam! so you could argue they take place in the same universe." Who knew a goofier take on the superhero style could be tied to such a scary world?