SPOILERS for Shazam! ahead.

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the DCEU's other solo headliners up to this point (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman),

Speaking of the Man of Steel - he and Shazam! have a long and sometimes tumultuous history in the world of comic books, going back to Shazam!'s time as Fawcett Publications' answer to Superman (then the mascot of National Comics) in the late 1930s and early '40s. That connection only helped to fuel the brought to life by Shazam! star Zachary Levi's stunt double in the film, that wasn't always the plan.

Related: Every DCEU Connection in Shazam!

Sandberg confirmed that Superman's cameo was alway part of Shazam!'s screenplay during our interview with him, adding that the Man of Steel "was definitely something we wanted to have in there". In a separate interview with Inverse, the director added that Cavill was originally supposed to reprise his DCEU role as the character, but was "unavailable" when the crew was filming the scene in question at a real school in Toronto (which was on-holiday at the time).

As a refresher: Shazam! concludes with Billy Batson (Asher Angel) showing up transformed into Shazam! and finally making good on his promise to sit next to Cavill's Superman was originally going to sit down and talk to Freddy, but that portion of the sequence was dropped when Cavill couldn't make the shoot. And while he itted he was worried at first that the cameo would feel "cheap" and leave people feeling "cheated" without Cavill, he felt much better once he saw the scene all cut together during post-production:

“It just made us laugh. You see Freddy’s reaction, and a hard cut to credits, and it’s just funny. It turned out better than what it was originally where he sat down and had a little chat.”

While a number of DCEU fans would've no doubt whether Cavill returns to play him again or not.

MORE: Shazam!'s Ending Sets Up a Very Different DCEU Future

Source: Inverse