Was Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman deepfaked in Shazam 2? Director replies

Shazam 2 doesn’t go all the way in crossing over with the rest of the DCEU, but it always tries to involve other heroes. The first one used Superman; only he was headless. Director David F. Sandberg wanted to bring Ben Affleck’s Batman and Henry Cavill’s Superman in the next one, but those cameos were denied.

However, Wonder Woman did appear in the film as Billy Batson had a huge crush on her. Gal Gadot’s cameo was revealed in the trailers to boost ticket sales. But after the film came out, set photos revealed Taylor Cahill as a stand-in body double in place of Gal Gadot, which led people to believe that maybe Gadot was deepfaked in the film.

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"When you see Gal it’s 100% her": Shazam 2 director replies to deepfake claims

Wonder Woman showed up twice in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The first was a dream sequence where we only saw a headless body until its face turned into the Wizard.

This was always believed to be a stand-in, but after seeing some set photos, many thought that Wonder Woman’s cameo in the final movie was also shot by Cayhill, and then Gal Gadot’s face was deepfaked on her.

Replying to Twitter user @maybegrayson’s post, industry insider Grace Randolph also inquired by writing,

“Wait, I thought WBD was trying to SAVE money.”

Shazam! Fury of the Gods was produced on a budget of another $100 million, and not a lot was spent on marketing. So, the whole deepfaking seemed confusing to many.

David F. Sandberg on Shazam 2 (Image via DC)

But director Sandberg finally came to the rescue and provided the necessary explanation. He said:

“We shot the scene with Taylor to figure out what coverage we then needed to get with Gal since she couldn’t make it to Atlanta. It’s also Taylor’s body with the wizards head on it. There is absolutely no deepfaking going on. When you see Gal it’s 100% her.”

He continued:

“This is the approach we did on 'Shazam 1' for Superman. Shoot with a double first, then get the required coverage with Cavill. Only the second part never happened on Shazam 1.”

It would have been nice if these actors were physically on set and involved in much bigger roles.

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How Wonder Woman could have saved Shazam 2

Wonder Woman in Shazam 2 (Image via DC)

Towards the end, Wonder Woman saves Shazam from dying, but she could have saved the film’s box office by being there for much longer. Reports of her involvement have been circulating for almost a year. It was presumed that with two angry goddesses in the film, Wonder Woman will have a bigger role, but she only showed up at the end.

After Shazam 2’s disappointing opening numbers, one could conclude they lack major star power and memorable action sequences. The involvement of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman in the final battle could have upped the ante. After all, it felt highly unrealistic that in a world full of powerful DC superheroes, nobody showed up to help Shazam until the battle was over.

Hence, a bigger role for Wonder Woman and maybe a few cameos and teases for a battle against Black Adam would have strengthened the film.