In most cases, you’d expect the director of a movie telling everyone that something they thought they saw but didn’t would be taken at face value given they were the person who made the film in question, but Shazam! director David F. Sandberg has ended up being drawn into an ongoing argument with fans who remain adamant they saw a certain sequence in the opening chapter.
On the plus side, it certainly beats having to deal with the fallout from the DCU sequel cratering at the box office and securing some of the franchise’s worst-ever reviews, never mind the fact star Zachary Levi and would-be onscreen archenemy Dwayne Johnson have been at the center of a storm after accusations of backstabbing and blocking ran rampant, but you can feel the exasperation in Sandberg’s words as he dug up a two-year old tweet for reference.
If you thought that would be the end of the Shazam! Mandela Effect, then think again, because a surprising number of people were quick to respond and state their complete and utter belief that the excised footage that most definitely wasn’t part of the theatrical cut – which was reiterated by the guy who stood behind the camera and called action – was right there in front of them.
It’s merely the latest bizarre offshoot of the Shazam! discourse to emerge this week, with Sandberg already debunking claims he’d deepfaked Gal Gadot into the blockbuster, while also having his words taken out of context and twisted to make it sound like he was disowning Fury of the Gods after collecting his paycheck. That’s comic book Twitter for you, and it ain’t gonna change.