The Real Reason Shazam! Didn't Open With A Typical DC Logo

Consider this a public service announcement to all the superhero super-fans out there: start following David F. Sandberg's Twitter account (@ponysmasher) immediately. 

Of course, David F. Sandberg is the uniquely talented filmmaker who's been at the helm of such compelling genre fare as 2016's Lights Out, 2017's Annabelle: Creation, and a little superhero confection by the name of Shazam! As of late, the director has made great use of his Twitter account to directly address Shazam! fans with questions about the 2019 DCEU blockbuster. Sandberg's refreshingly honest responses to fan inquiries on the social media site have so far been every bit as quippy as the cracking dialogue traded in his latest film. To date, he has taken to Twitter to address questions about why a kick-ass, slow motion fight scene included on the Shazam! Blu-ray release didn't make it into the final cut of the film — and has even offered insight into why he opted to cut so quickly to the credits at the end of the film.

Most recently, the director cleared up one of the biggest mysteries surrounding Shazam!'s theatrical release: why the movie didn't open with the classic logo featuring characters from the pages of DC's lauded comics. 

As Sandberg candidly confessed, the real reason Shazam! didn't sport the same opening logo as it's DC Extended Universe brethren was merely the result of accidental oversight. In his tweet, Sandberg admitted he merely forgot to put the DC logo into the theatrical cut of the film: "I've seen various theories about why we didn't have the typical DC logo with characters. Truth is I forgot. A lot to think about when making a movie. Some people don't believe that. 'The studio would have said something!'. Well. They didn't."

So there you have it, Shazam! fans — the mysterious case of the missing DC Comics logo in the film's opening was purely the result of a director losing track of it in the chaos of assembling a final cut of a tentpole feature. On top of that, it seems the studio somehow managed to overlook the fact that it wasn't there to begin with. 

While Sandberg's answer to the Shazam! DC logo mystery will likely come as a shock to many — particularly the theorists Sandberg addressed in his post — it should be noted that the answer did arrive on April 1, so there's at least an outside chance that his hilarious "I forgot my homework"-styled response was actually an April Fool's prank. Still, given that literally every other response Sandberg has posted to Twitter feels super credible (and the fact that April Fool's jokes were more or less banned by the world this year), that seems highly unlikely. 

But hey, if you're anything like us, there's a good chance you didn't even notice the lack of DC logo before Shazam!, and were happy enough to just sit back and enjoy one of 2019's most purely entertaining offerings.