‘Shazam’ Won’t Be Connected to the ‘Justice League’ Universe

Today has been full of news for the DC Comics adaptation Shazam!, with Dwayne Johnson finally confirming he will play the villainous Black Adam, while scribe Darren Lemke has come aboard to write the script. One of the surprising tidbits of information to come out of the Darren Lemke story is that the adaptation will be produced by New Line Cinema, and not their parent company Warner Bros. Pictures, which has distributed all of the recent DC Comics adaptations thus far.

This means that Shazam! will not tie in to the Justice League universe. New Line president Toby Emmerich revealed that Shazam! will have a different tone that other DC movies such as the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

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.

It's also worth noting that, in DC Comics' New 52 reboot, Shazam is part of the Justice League. In fact, in the Warner Bros. DC Universe animated adaptation Justice League: War, Shazam! even replaced Aquaman as a member of the Justice League.

When Warner Bros. announced release dates for 9 DC superhero movies, many believed that Shazam! would take up one of the slots in 2016, but it isn't known if that is the case anymore, since this project will be released under the New Line banner. However, it's possible that Warner Bros./New Line are building a Justice League universe alongside several other separate comic adaptations, such as Shazam!, Sandman and Lobo. Regardless of that theory, New Line still has not confirmed a release date for Shazam! at this time.

When asked about Dwayne Johnson playing Black Adam, Toby Emmerich had this to say.

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.

Toby Emmerich wouldn't confirm whether or not Mary Marvel or Captain Marvel Jr. will appear in the film, nor would he divulge any specific plot details. However, he did say it would be lighter in tone, with high stakes.