Black Adam and Shazam Are Finally Facing Off After Their DCEU Movie Disasters
Black Adam and Shazam have a long comic book rivalry that has never been allowed to play out on-screen in a live-action movie. The two adversaries, who draw their powers from the same ancient wizard, were set to be pitted against each other – and Superman – in the DCEU when Dwayne Johnson brought Black Adam to theaters in 2022. However, the reboot of the DC franchise that followed meant that he never had the chance to come up against Zachary Levi’s Shazam. Now, it looks like the two will have a showdown of sorts thanks to Prop Store’s upcoming Summer Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, which features the production-made costumes of both characters. This may not be the head to head that some fans had hoped for, but it is probably as close as we are going to get and the victor is going to be hard to call before the hammer falls.
The costumes being offered in the auction are taken from the respective characters’ first appearances in the DCEU. Levy made his debut as Shazam in 2019. The movie received strong reviews and became a moderate hit, making a costume from the production a highly prized item to own. While Shazam may not be in the same league as Batman and Superman in the hierarchy of DC Comics heroes, that has not stopped the full bodysuit landing a $25,000-$50,000 estimate and already reaching the low-end based on absentee bids. In an exact mirror, Johnson’s Black Adam costume has the same estimates and the same current bid. Again, the costume is the production-used one worn by Johnson in his less than spectacular DC debut as the “future of the DC franchise.” What will be interesting is to see whether the power of The Rock is enough to see his costume edge out Levi’s by the time the auction closes at the end of the month.
Shazam and Black Adam Helped See Out the DCEU
In 2022, the DCEU was given its last rights as James Gunn prepared to revitalise the franchise with a rebooted superhero saga. Black Adam became one of the final movies to hit cinemas before the announcement was made, and at the time The Rock was doing his best to promote his character as one would “change the hierarchy of the DCEU.” He did not do that, but instead became instantly irrelevant when it was revealed that the old DC regime would be ending in 2023. Black Adam‘s $393 million box office fell significantly short of the reported $450-600 million needed to break even. In the months that followed, Johnson played down the chaos surrounding the movie and quickly distanced himself from it all.
The following year, Shazam!: Fury of the Gods brought Levi’s hero back to screens with a big cast, decent set of reviews, but a dismal box office. Compared to the original movie’s $367 million haul, the sequel struggled to a $134million worldwide total, one of the lowest in the entire DCEU. In Shazam!: Fury of the Gods’ defense, 2023 was a terrible year for superheroes all-round, with The Flash bombing in the summer, while over at Marvel, The Marvels logging the worst box office of the entire franchise. Despite the lack of interest in Levi’s second outing as Shazam, there is no sign that his original costume is going to disappoint. The question is whether a costume worn by Levi can ever stand up against one worn by the one-man tour de force that is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. We will find out in the auction on August 26.
