Director David F. Sandberg has used his Instagram account to post a Shazam: Fury of the Gods filming update that’s most definitely a Black Adam reference. Shazam’s nemesis on the comic books will get its own movie next year, starring Dwayne Johnson as the titular character, which made fans wonder if the sequel to Shazam! would also feature the villain. However, so far, we haven't received any official confirmation the two DC powerhouses will cross paths on the big screen.
Sandberg’s picture shows a yellow lightning bow shining over a black background. The color pattern mimics Black Adam’s classic uniform, which is already enough for a nice Easter egg. Yet, the picture showing the villain symbol over a massive rock is a pretty obvious reference to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. WarnerMedia has been amping up their marketing game for the next DC movies in production, so it’s hard to believe the photo is only a coincidence — even more because, at the start of the week, director James Wan posted an Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom set image with an obvious comic book reference.
It’s still unknown how the upcoming movies might connect. Nevertheless, we’ve known that WarnerMedia plans to build a new cinematic universe with DC heroes for a while. It’s highly likely, then, that Zachary Levi’s Shazam faces Johnson’s Black Adam sooner or later. Maybe Black Adam won’t be the main antagonist in Shazam! Fury of the Gods since the movie already confirmed a trio of Atlas’ daughters will fight Shazam and his heroic foster family.
Played by Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler, the trio of villains already poses more than enough danger, so the addition of a Black Adam crossover might be too much. However, as Sandberg’s post is unquestionably an Easter egg, maybe we could hope for a cameo or a post-credits scene.
Shazam!: Fury of the Gods doesn’t hit theaters until June 2, 2023, so we have plenty of time to speculate. Almost a year before that, on July 29, 2022, we’ll watch Black Adam in theaters, which might give us more clues about how the two arch-nemeses will meet in the new DC cinematic universe. Check out Sandberg’s Instagram post below: