SHAZAM! Gets a Composer; Director Talks Dr. Sivana’s Origin and Black Adam

Today, we have a few news bits related to New Line Cinema’s DC film, Shazam!, which was a highlight at the studio’s San Diego Comic-Con panel last weekend.

First up, Film Music Reporter confirms that composer Benjamin Wallfisch is scoring Shazam! for director David F. Sandberg. He has worked on Sandberg’s two other feature films, Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, so this latest collaboration makes sense. Wallfisch’s other credits include Blade Runner 2049 (working alongside Hans Zimmer) and next year’s Hellboy reboot.

Meanwhile, Sandberg has talked about his movie’s approach to villains. The main antagonist will be Dr. Sivana, played by Mark Strong. Entertainment Weekly confirms that, like the comics, Sivana encountered the Wizard as a kid, but was ultimately rejected. Sivana has spent his life looking to possess Shazam’s powers, which brings him into direct conflict with Billy Batson.

Sandberg weighs in, saying that Sivana will subvert the genre’s trend of having supervillains with the exact same powers as the heroes. “…it’s not just him, really, it’s … something else … that lent him his powers … he can do some things that Shazam can’t. The danger in some films is the bad guy has the same powers as the good guy. [Sivana] has an extra thing, extra dynamic, that takes care of that….”

One villain that Billy won’t face in this movie is Black Adam, a role that Dwayne Johnson has been attached to play for years. Currently, the plan is for Black Adam to get his own movie, then the two characters would collide in a Shazam! sequel. But, that doesn’t mean Shazam! won’t acknowledge Black Adam in any way.

Speaking with MTV (transcription via Heroic Hollywood), Sandberg reaffirms that the Shazam/Black Adam conflict will “mostly” be avoided in this movie, but then teases the film’s Easter eggs. “Mostly leaving it for another tale. There’s a lot of little easter eggs and references and things like that in this movie.” Since Black Adam is Shazam’s most well known villain, it would be more surprising if the movie didn’t reference him in some capacity. We’ll have to wait until the movie comes out to really know what capacity that is.

Shazam! is set to hit theaters on April 5th, 2019. The seventh installment in the DC Films Universe stars Asher Angel, Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Grace Fulton, Jack Dylan Grazer, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Cooper Andrews, Marta Milans, Faithe Herman, and Djimon Hounsou. David F. Sandberg directs from a script by Henry Gayden.