Shazam! Fury of the Gods exposes several problems with the timing of James Gunn's DC Universe reboot. The 2023 DC movie is a sequel to 2019's Shazam! and holds many connections to the wider franchise that Warner Bros. and DC Films spent nearly a decade trying to build. The future of the DC Universe was drastically altered in late 2022 upon the announcement that James Gunn and Peter Safran would be co-CEOs at DC Studios. Despite having Shazam! Fury of the Gods and several other movies heading towards planned 2023 release dates, it was confirmed that a reset of the franchise's canon is coming.
James Gunn's planned DC Universe reboot created plenty of questions about the future of the franchise, especially when it came to characters that were already introduced. The plan officially begins in 2025 with Superman: Legacy's release, leaving Shazam! Fury of the Gods and other films in an awkward spot. Shazam 2's ending sets up several future stories for Zachary Levi's Shazam to embark on. This would include meeting Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson), working with the Justice Society, and being a linchpin in the interconnected universe. Now that James Gunn is rebooting the DC Universe, Shazam 2 reveals some of the issues with the plan.
