Despite screenwriter John August saying that the DC Comics’ Captain Marvel movie “[‘Shazam!’] won’t be happening,” in a lengthy blog statement a week ago, that statement has been contradicted by the project’s producer, Michael Uslan.

Uslan himself told MTV News “I will only say one thing – and all I will do is quote Samuel Clemens to you, […] This is direct from Captain Marvel himself: ‘The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.'”

The Captain Marvel/Shazam film, which was also referred to as “Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam”, initially made geek waves at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con International, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s announcement that he plans to play Black Adam, the evil counterpart to Captain Marvel, in the film.

Then in November, it was announced that the project had moves from New Line Cinema to Warner Bros, and that Peter Segal (“Get Smart”) and Michael Ewing were attached to co-direct. Nothing was heard since then until August’s blog January 5th and Uslan’s statement today about the continuing life of the project. He would say no more, but his statements do indicate that there may be more life to the film than thought.

DC’s Captain Marvel, originally created in 1939 by CC Beck and Bill Parker, was acquired from Fawcett Comics in 1972. Commonly seen as a Superman analogue, Captain Marvel is originally the orphan Billy Batson, given shelter by the ancient wizard Shazam. Given the powers of ancient heroes, Billy becomes the wizard’s champion by calling his name and summoning magic lightning, becoming the adult Captain Marvel. In 2006’s DC mini-series “The Trials of Shazam!”, it is revealed that Billy has taken the place of the wizard and Captain Marvel Jr, an orphan named Freddy Freeman who was his sidekick, undertakes a series of trials and becomes the new champion under the name Shazam.

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By Costa Koutsoutis, (Source: MTV Splashpage)