Shazam! Fury of the Gods Wonder Woman’s cameo began as a Superman joke

Shazam! wrath of the gods would never be a justice league undercover movie or anything Black Adam Consequence. worlds would not collide for Billy Batson and his overpowered crew of foster kids — and director David F. Sandberg was glad it stayed that way. The Swedish filmmaker, who ventured into the horror world with films like Lights out And Annabelle: Creation before skipping into the world of DC Comics adaptations, loves Shazam, loves the Shazamily, and loves unleashing hordes of gods and monsters upon Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to test their might. In the sequel, he even put a dome over Philly to keep Batman and Superman — and any questions about Batman and Superman’s whereabouts — at bay.

But there was a big DC Universe crossover that Sandberg was pushing for as a mea culpa for the original Shazam‘s crazy headless Superman scene.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for the end of Shazam! Fury of the Gods.]

In the final scene of 2019 Shazam, Billy interrupts Freddy’s lunch in Shazam mode to introduce a friend: Henry Cavill’s Superman! Somehow! Instead of a personal cameo, Superman walks in with a cafeteria tray, but his head is not in the picture.

Not exactly what “the fans” were looking for from a cameo from a connected universe, but it made Sandberg laugh. And when the time came Shazam! wrath of the godshe knew he wanted to do two things: work Wonder Woman into the film and address the notorious non-appearance of the first film.

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

“Wonder Woman was always in the script,” says Sandberg. “And we wanted to poke fun at the whole headless cameo in the first movie with Superman. So we wanted to tease people a bit. But that only works if Wonder Woman actually shows up at the end. Otherwise people would be way too angry.”

Shazam! wrath of the gods does everything. Halfway through, in one of the funniest parts of the film, Billy dreams of going out to dinner with the one and only Wonder Woman. From the back, it’s clearly Gal Gadot’s version of the character — but viewers never see her face. Sandberg keeps the camera away from Diana’s face long enough to draw the gut feeling: yes they are doing it again. And the reversal comes at just the right moment: w hen Shazam leans in to get more romantic, it’s the wizard (Djimon Hounsou) who reaches out telepathically. We get Hounsou’s face and everything else from Wonder Woman.

“I’ve worked with Djimon before fast 7“, says wrath of the gods Writer Chris Morgan, “and in some roles he can seem stoic and strong or whatever, but man, this guy is really, really funny. And so the chance to break out with the wizard for a bit was just too much to resist.”

Co-writer Henry Gayden also credits Djimon for emphasizing the film’s comedic moments. In another emotional punch between Freddy and Anthea (Rachel Zegler), Sandberg frames the actor behind them as he leads their dialogue with speaking hands. Not in the script, but gold. “Djimon just took over there and made everything more fun,” says Gayden.

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

But as Sandberg says, the team couldn’t just joke around with a Wonder Woman appearance. In fact, the character solved a major script problem: who was godly enough to bring Billy Batson back from the dead? In wrath of the godsAs a climax, Shazam faces off against Kalypso (Lucy Liu) and her electrifying dragon. He wins, but not without sacrifice. Sandberg and the authors go so far as to provide a coda for the moment in which the family mourns the loss of Billy at his grave. But not so fast: There’s another Child of the Gods roaming the DC Universe, and her name is Diana.

“She was in the script from the beginning, which was exciting,” says Sandberg, “but I didn’t really believe it. Because of the experience on the first film. And even when we were shooting most of the scene, they were like, ‘Oh, she’s not going to make it here that day, so we’re going to shoot her with a stand-in and pick up her parts later.’ I’m like, Oh, okay, that never happens. So I started to come up with a plan B: What other god can we get to revive him? Do we have to bring Hespera back? This will be lame after she dies. But then it actually happened!”

On the phone, Sandberg sounded genuinely excited that Gadot is appearing in the film, even as the future of the DC films past and future is being questioned. Planned wonder woman 3 The main role of the actor will no longer take place, make wrath of the gods her last bow. But the importance of the cameo didn’t stop Sandberg from having fun with it.

“Even at the end, when she shows up, there’s that first shot of her where her head is out of the frame,” says the director, laughing. “But very quickly we flip so people don’t leave the theater frustrated. [laughs] I was so excited to work with Gal and have her in the film because it’s a really nice treat and makes up for a headless cameo!”