Wasn’t there a Shaq movie already called Shazam? Does that mean this movie has to be called Captain Marvel? Wait…just looked it up. It was called Kazaam, and it most certainly sucked.
Anyhow, in less important, less Shaq-related news (now I’m in the mood to play Shaq-Fu), Geoff Johns, who we’re pretty much whores for here at IoM, has been announced as co-writer (with Billy Birch) of the upcoming Shazam movie, which has been trying to get off the ground for years. At one point, The Rock…er, Dwayne Johnston was even cast in the movie as Black Adam. Not sure if that’s still true or not.
Hell, even the comic Shazam (also known as Captain Marvel) has seemingly always had a hard time finding success. Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, the most recent series started by HeroBear and the Kid’s Mike Kunkel, was a good time and seems to be doing well. Before that we had Trial of Shazam, written by Judd Winick, and Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith. Just seems like the character has been changed a lot in recent years, especially in the pages of Geoff Johns’ own Justice Society of America. I’d be very curious to see what he does with the character in film form.
Johns has already written an episode of Smallville (introducing the Legion of Super-Heroes), and will be writing one next season involving the JSA. In addition, he’s been announced as co-writer of The Flash, which hopefully will happen sooner rather than later. No word yet on when this Shazam film will see the light of day, but I wonder if Johns will connect the movies like his corner of the DCU all seems to be connected?