Zachary Levi Claims ‘Shazam!’ 2 Post-Credits Scene Was ‘Thwarted’: ‘I Haven’t Blamed Anybody’

Samantha Bergeson
·3 min read
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Zachary Levi is having the last word on the “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” post-credits scene.

Levi claimed in an Instagram post that a sequence in which his title superhero character is asked to join the Justice Society was changed. Levi’s comments come amid rumors that “Black Adam” star and producer Dwayne Johnson blocked actors Quintessa Swindell and Aldis Hodge from reprising their respective roles as Cyclone and Hawkman in the slated “Shazam!” scene. Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee instead play their “Peacemaker” and “The Suicide Squad” roles as the recruiters to the Justice Society.

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Johnson’s Black Adam will not be included in the DCU moving forward amid the restructuring of the franchise under co-heads Peter Safran and James Gunn.

Levi reposted a report from The Wrap alleging Johnson’s involvement in having the post-credits scene was altered. Levi captioned, “The truth will set you free” in the Instagram Stories repost.

Now, Levi is clarifying his comment.

“I may or may not have, you know, reposted something in my stories about a story that I had nothing to do with, that [The Wrap] had reported on,” Levi said in a new Instagram video, below. “And then I got flack about it, because people were saying, ‘What are you doing? You’re trying to blame this guy because your movies not doing well.’ Listen, I haven’t blamed anybody. There’s not one single person that I have blamed for anything about the way that our movie has performed.”

The “Chuck” alum continued, “People are slagging on James Gunn because Jennifer Holland, his wife who is an actor and is in ‘Peacemaker’ and ‘Suicide Squad’…We used Jennifer and Steve in that scene in ‘Shazam.’ That was not the original intent. The original intent was to have Hawkeye and Cyclone to be there inviting me into the Justice Society. Walter Hamada, Peter Safran, David Sandberg…we had an awesome scene and we were thwarted.”

He concluded, “I’m merely coming to the defense of the truth. Truth is good. We should all live it.”

Levi recently shut down claims that he “blamed” Zack Snyder fans for the “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” box office performance. Levi instead pointed to the “biggest issue we’re having is marketing. This is a perfect family movie, and yet a lot of families aren’t aware of that. Which is just a shame.”

He expanded in the recent Instagram video saying, “If you don’t want to watch a movie with humor in it because you’re more into straight-up hard action, I get it. I’m not trying to force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. But let me remind you where comics and Captain Marvel/Shazam started….these were comics geared toward younger people and the fun and the silliness and the goofiness. It’s a real shame if comic book movies have gotten to a place where they have to be nothing but serious and nothing but intense and nothing but dark. That’s a sad day. I don’t know what else to say about that.”

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” scored poorly with critics, with director David F. Sandberg tweeting, “On Rotten Tomatoes I just got my lowest critic score and my highest audience score on the same film. I wasn’t expecting a repeat of the first movie critically but I was still a little surprised because I think it’s a good film. Oh well…After six years of Shazam I’m definitely done with superheroes for now.”

He added, “One thing I’ve really been looking forward to is disconnecting from the superhero discourse online. A lot of that stresses me out so much and it will be nice not having to think about that anymore.”

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