It may not fully seem like it, but Shazam: Fury of the Gods comes out next Friday. Originally scheduled to come out towards the end of 2022 before being punted to 2023, Fury of the Gods has had a somewhat muted marketing cycle compared to more recent DC movie fare, or even its own 2019 predecessor. But in the same way that WB decided at a certain point to give up the game about Henry Cavill’s Superman cameo in Black Adam, the studio is now doing it again with the Shazam Family’s second outing.
Spoilers from this point, obviously.
If you have cable TV, chances are you’ve seen a recent promo for Fury that’s full of social media buzz, wherein Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman shows up to close out the ad. At some point towards the film’s end, she’ll gently rebuff Billy Batson’s attempts to get her number before going off to do her own thing...whatever that thing may end up being. Her inclusion in the film, however substantial it is, was definitely meant to be a surprise: on Friday, director David F. Sandberg advised people to watch out for spoilers if they wanted to go in blind next weekend.
The inclusion of Wonder Woman in Fury of the Gods is a fun gag, since the first movie had a headless Superman cameo, and it’d be fun if this continued being the case with other heroes in the franchise’s future. At the moment, though, all it really serves to remind you is how abrupt Gadot’s time with the character got cut short, since she also got cut from The Flash alongside Cavill (at least, at time of writing, who knows with these movies anymore?) More importantly, if a studio has to rely on one or two-minutes cameos to sell a movie, then it probably says something about their faith in how it’ll do on its own merits.
Shazam: Fury of the Gods hits theaters on Friday, March 17.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.