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When director Peter Segel became attached to direct the DC comics movie Shazam! in 2006, the project had made a good amount of progress towards production. It even landed John August to pen the script and Dwayne Johnson to star as the villain - Black Adam. But it was all for naught because the movie would find itself ending up in development hell.

The director has revealed to Coming Soon exactly what happened behind the scenes. Shazam's biggest enemy wasn't Black Adam. It was Superman.

According to Segal, Shazam, also known as Captain Marvel has always had a problem co-existing with the Man of Steel, as the two characters have very similar powers.
"As long as Superman stays hot in the market place, there seems like a little bit of a crossover between the two characters. After Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, it seemed like there was a moment in time where Shazam! was going to see the light of day. That's when you heard those stories. Now that Superman is being invigorated and going up against Batman, I think it's difficult for DC to figure out how to launch this character in the wake of Superman's resurgence."
The director also notes that back before DC Comics owned Captain Marvel the company actually sued the original owners for stealing their idea for Superman (the latter was introduced one year before the former).
"At its core, it's a lot like Superman. There's this boy trapped inside of a superhero's body. He's still a boy inside, so there's this opportunity to play a lot of humor with the action. Originally, Stan Lee brought me Fantastic Four a number of years for that very reason. I always have the question when people bring me superhero properties, 'Why me?' With Stan, he said, 'It's because there's a sense of humor within all Marvel characters.' These characters are flawed and, within those flaws, there is humor. When Toby Emmerich came to me with Shazam!, it was because of those same reasons. To draw from that humor and to mix it with great action and pathos. I've always loved Shazam!, but I don't know if it's going to see the light of day anytime soon."
Will we ever see a Captain Marvel movie?