The ‘Shazam!’ Filmmakers Tell Us About That End Credit Scene, And What’s Coming Next

Now that you’ve seen Shazam! (and you should only be reading this if either you’ve seen the movie, or you just don’t care about spoilers) we can dig into some burning questions with the film’s director, David Sandberg, and the film’s producer, Peter Safran.

Namely, in the film’s first post-credit scene, a lot of people were expecting to finally get their first look at Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam. But, instead, to people not familiar with Mister Mind, they got what appears to be a little talking bug. Why did the filmmakers introduce Mister Mind instead of Black Adam And when do they think we will finally see Black Adam They explain ahead.

Also, as you saw in the movie, at the end we got the whole Shazam family powered up with Shazam superpowers. One problem though, in the comics Freddy Freeman’s character is called Captain Marvel Jr. Mary Bromfield is Mary Marvel. In the credits, the superhero version of Freddy Freeman, played by Adam Brody, has a very non-descript name. Basically “Freddy Freeman superhero version.” So, what are they going to call this character It sounds like they don’t quite have that figured out yet.

But, one neat Easter egg is also the casting of D.J. Cotrona as the superpowered version of Pedro Peña. Ten years ago, when the idea of a George Miller-directed Justice League movie was first being thrown around, Cotrona had been cast as Superman and Brody was tapped as The Flash (and Armie Hammer would have been Batman). Was finally teaming these two together a wink to that never-made movie

Having D.J. Cotrona and Adam Brody together, was that a wink to the Justice League movie that didn’t happen

David Sandberg: I didn’t actually think about that.

Really

Sandberg: Until after.

Peter Safran: It’s true. They really were cast because they did awesome auditions for their characters. They really were. And, as we were going through the process making their deals and casting them, of course, we were like this is, in its own way, pretty great that these two guys are in it. I think they really enjoyed being in it. They have been wanting to be superheroes since, what is it, a decade ago So, it’s great that they finally get the chance to do it as well. I think they really enjoy that aspect of it.

In the credits, Adam Brody’s listed as Freddy Freeman Hero, or something like that. So you haven’t figured out what Captain Marvel Jr.’s name will be yet

Safran: Yeah, we just haven’t landed on it yet.

Can it not be Captain Marvel Jr. I guess not.

Sandberg: I mean, I don’t know if it legally can or not. Maybe it can, but I think it’s still too confusing.

It would be very confusing if one character is Shazam and the other is Captain Marvel Jr.

Sandberg: Yeah, I don’t think it would work.

At my screening, in the post-credit scene, everyone thought we’d see Black Adam. Then all of a sudden it’s Mister Mind.

Sandberg: It’s great, right

It is great, if you know who Mister Mind is.

Sandberg: If you don’t, it’s like what the hell

So why Mister Mind

Sandberg: First of all, I love the character.

He’s been around since the ’40s.

Sandberg: It’s just such a fun thing to have this evil mastermind in a little alien worm body. That was a part in Geoff John’s comic, the New 52. It was just something we wanted to put in there, because he is such a fun character.

So how do you think Black Adam will work, logistically

Safran: I think they’ll end up making a stand-alone Black Adam movie the same way we made a stand-alone Shazam! movie.

And then everyone will want to see them together.

Safran: At some point you’ll see them in the same film, but the timing of that is certainly up in the air right now. So we’ll see what happens.

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