Although a lot has been written about the Shazam! film to be directed by Peter Segal, and co-starring the Rock as Captain Marvel's arch-foe, Black Adam, the project now seems to be dead. John August, who wrote the script for the film, recently wrote on his blog that after extensive studio reworking of the concept, the project is now not happening.

By "dead", August offered the following explanation:



In the comics, Captain Marvel is a character whose powers are similar to Superman's, but with a considerably different origin. Captain Marvel is really Billy Batson, a kid (sometimes written as young as seven or eight, sometimes written as a teenager), who transforms into the World's Mightiest Mortal, Captain Marvel, when he says the name of the wizard Shazam, who gave him his powers. Captain Marvel's greatest enemy, Black Adam, is a former champion of Shazam's from ancient Egypt.

August describes in great detail how the film that was originally planned was very much an action-comedy, focusing a lot on Billy's discovering his abilities, plus his coping with transforming from a child to an adult man - as August phrases it, "Big with super powers". However the studio steadily pushed to transform it into a higher-action and darker film. August surmises that this may have had something to do with the success of The Dark Knight, and the box-office failure of Speed Racer.

It's fascinating reading, and disappointing news for comic book fans. To read August's full entry