Shazam Has a Secret Sandman Connection that Could Destroy the DCU – Theory Explained

Warning: Spoilers for Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #25 ahead!

There are few places in DC continuity more mysterious than the Rock of Eternity, the seat of magic and on-and-off headquarters for the allies of Shazam and the Wizard. When the Rock is breached by some of DC’s worst villains, it gives up one of these mysteries: an artifact known as “the Heart of Eternium,” whose very existence seems to suggest a connection between the Rock and Sandman’s Endless.

The first story, “Joker-Luthor: World’s Vilest” by Mark Waid and Steve Pugh, in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #25 sees Lex Luthor approach the Joker with a map that drives the reader insane, promising to share the treasure it reveals if the Joker can translate it. The map leads to the Rock of Eternity and the treasure at its center: a crystal heart known as the “Heart of Eternium” that can grant any desire.

When the Joker inevitably betrays Luthor and attempts to take the Heart for himself, Luthor is forced to destroy it to stop the Joker from using the Heart to drown the world in madness. These scenes suggest an intriguing connection between Shazam and Endless lore.

Does the Rock of Eternity Hold the Secrets of the Endless?

A Major Shazam Object Seems to Connect to Sandman Lore

If the Endless were to hold their secrets within the confines of the DC Universe, there is arguably no safer vault than the Rock of Eternity. Not only is it one of DC’s oldest established locales, debuting back in 1940 with the rest of the Shazam mythos, it is the font through which all magic flows, sitting at the cosmological heart of the DCU. While the Endless are not explicitly magical beings, the Rock would certainly be an appropriate repository for the kind of power they wield.

The Heart of Eternium seems specifically emblematic of Desire, the Endless in charge of want. Given how strongly mortals are driven by desire, the eponymous Endless often views mortal folk as their playthings, and the ironic fates that befall both Luthor and the Joker in this issue are typical of mortals who run afoul of Desire’s games. As for the Heart of Eternium, not only does it fulfill desires, but it is also carved from the Rock itself into the shape of a crystalline heart — the same shape and substance that represents Desire in the galleries through which the Endless communicate.

The map to the Rock driving its reader to madness could suggest a playful or protective effort on the part of Delirium, while the Rock being “the passageway to all things Past, Present, and Future” implies it may be a part of Destiny’s domain. On the other hand, the Heart also heavily resembles the destructive Dream Vortex that drives the plot of the Sandman volume The Doll’s House; since the Vortex in that story is the result of Desire meddling with Dream, the Heart taking the same form may hint at another such combination of Dream and Desire’s powers.

The Rock of Eternity Connects All of the DC Multiverse

Panel from Shazam! #1 by Waid, Dan Mora, Alejandro Sánchez, and Troy Peteri

Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #25 is full of references to both Shazam and other DC properties, including the train that takes the Joker and Luthor to the Rock and brief cameos by Jonah Hex and the villainous Abra Kadabra; perhaps the Rock of Eternity is vast enough to contain references to the Endless, too. While these connections currently rest in the realm of theory — heart iconography, after all, is a fairly universal symbol of want — there are just enough seeds sown in this issue to suggest that there may be some connection between Shazam’s Rock of Eternity and Sandman’s Endless.

Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #25 is available now from DC Comics.