The original script for “Shazam!” would have introduced two heroes.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, “Black Adam” star Dwayne Johnson revealed that he personally stepped in to make sure his character got his own solo origin story.
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“When the first draft of [‘Shazam!’] came to us, it was a combination of Black Adam and Shazam: Two origin stories in one movie,” he said. “Now that was the goal — so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But when I read that, I just knew in my gut, ‘We can’t make this movie like this. We would be doing Black Adam an incredible disservice.’ It would’ve been fine for Shazam having two origin stories converge in one movie, but not good for Black Adam.”
Johnson went on, “I made a phone call. I said, ‘I have to share my thoughts here. It’s very unpopular…’ because everybody thought, ‘Hey, this script is great, let’s go make this movie.’ I said, ‘I really think that you should make ‘Shazam!,’ make that movie on its own in the tone that you want. And I think we should separate this as well.’”
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In the end, the character of Black Adam was teased in “Shazam!”, with Johnson starring in his own standalone “Black Adam” movie.
Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari and Pierce Brosnan also star in the film.
“Black Adam” opens in theatres Oct. 21.
