Fans were understandably excited when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was finally cast as Black Adam last year, but that excitement was tempered when the October DC film slate announcement showed that Shazam won’t hit theaters until April 5, 2019. Although there have been minor updates on the film since then, fans still have over four years for Shazam to fight Black Adam on the big screen. However, if recent comments from Johnson are any indication, fans may get to see the hero/anti-hero sooner than originally planned.
After the Academy Awards, MTV pointed out to Johnson that Shazam is still several years away, but Johnson teased that the film may be further along in the production process than the DC Comics slat indicates. The actor told the network,
It may happen a little earlier than what has been predicted. The script is coming in, it’s great, the support from the studio has been great. It’s just a great opportunity, especially with Black Adam where you can take a guy who starts off as a bad guy, turns into an anti-hero, we can make him vicious, a little bit of winking charm.
Some might immediately think that Johnson was implying that Shazam’s release date could be moved earlier, and that’s certainly a possibility. However, DC already has two movies a year scheduled between 2016 and 2020, and that’s not even including the Batman and Superman solo films that are tentatively planned. While Marvel has gotten to the point where they can chug out three films a year, Warner Bros. seems like they would be more cautious with the schedule, as the DC Cinematic Universe is still very much in its infancy. If Shazam were to hit theaters earlier, one would imagine that it could switch places with Aquaman or The Flash, both of which are currently penciled in for 2018 release dates.
Another possibility is that Shazam and/or Black Adam will be introduced to the DCCU before the 2019 film. Similar to how Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Cyborg are debuting in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice before their solo movies, perhaps the World’s Mightiest Mortal or his anti-hero nemesis will hit the big screen in a film like Justice League Part One. Many (myself included) have assumed that Green Lantern would be the seventh member of the Justice League, but perhaps Shazam could fill that spot, similar to how he took Aquaman’s spot in the animated New 52 comics-inspired film Justice League: War. Given Johnson’s recent comments about how fans will one day see Black Adam going up against heroes like Batman and Superman, it would also be interesting to see the League face off against the black-clad Kahndaqian before introducing Billy Batson.
