The Big Red Cheese is back! While the DC Extended Universe is going through a crisis, child hero Billy Batson is igniting his youthful energy in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, out in cinemas! The first of several DC movies to hit the screens this year, the sequel to 2018’s Shazam! sees Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his fellow foster siblings still learning how to juggle teenagerhood and their adult superhero alter egos. When a vengeful trio of ancient gods arrives on Earth in search of the magic stolen from them long ago, Shazam and his allies get thrusted into a battle for their powers, lives and fate of the human realm.
Full of laughs and light-hearted moments, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is entertaining comic book fun. That said, there were some moments that made us sit back and furrow our eyebrows for a little while because it didn’t make much sense. As the first movie of the year from the new DC Films, we can’t help but wonder how this sequel shapes up the next era of DC movies following the recent change of leadership.
So, without further ado, here are 10 questions we had after watching Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
Spoilers ahead!
#1 Why don’t the rest of the Shazamily have superhero names?
A big point of contention in Shazam! Fury of the Gods is that our heroes don’t have a name, except for Billy who was named Shazam by the end of it. What about the other members then? If they are deemed worthy of the powers of SHAZAM, are they not worthy of their own superhero names? We know that Mary (Grace Caroline Currey) is known as Lady Shazam in the comics, as is Shazam Jr. (Adam Brody) but it’s been two movies and still no mention of their monikers. Don’t event start with the other kids because in the comics, only these three have a superhero identity while the others have not been given any.
That said, the name of this character has always been confusing. Introduced as Captain Marvel, the name stuck even when Marvel Comics was around but his comics were printed by Fawcett Comics and subsequently, DC Comics. After a lapse in renewing rights to the Captain Marvel name, which Marvel Comics quickly snapped up, the character was renamed Shazam but that hasn’t stuck either as he’s currently known as The Captain in the comics. Still, a lack of names for all of the heroes is pretty confusing.
#2 What was Anne doing in high school in the first place?
The Daughters of Atlas came to the human realm to steal back the staff and take powers away from the Shazamily. While Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu) were busy busting the staff from a museum and turning its visitors and employees into dust, Anne (Rachel Zegler) was busy doing what? Buying back-to-school supplies? Signing up for homeroom and physics classes? Out of the things she could be doing, why did Anne end up signing up for high school? This leads us to our next question…
#3 How did Anne know to find a member of the Shazamily in high school?
Why out of all the places in Philadelphia, did she think a high school is the place to find supers? The Shazamily could be literally anyone of any age but somehow Anne just managed to stumble into high school and bump straight into the arms of a member of the Shazamily, Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer). It’s almost too convenient at this point and that because she knew, but how?
#4 What’s the point of the Unicorns?
Kalypso unleashed an army of mythical creatures in her attempt to destroy the human realm. While Billy got busy trying to save Freddy from near death, the rest of the Shazamily went on a hunt for a quick fix to Kalypso’s rampage. The answer, as Darla (Faithe Herman) found, were unicorns! There was an entire scene on feeding unicorns candy and a short moment of the kids riding the unicorns and impaling some creatures but it didn’t make that big of an impact overall. It was a Skittles product placement that ultimately amounted to nothing much.
#5 How does the shield work?
After capturing Freddy, Hespera threw a huge energy field over the city, preventing anyone and anything from leaving and even Shazam could not break through it. But the ending of the movie called for Shazam to call down the lightning to overload the staff weapon while the energy field was still up. In the comics, the lightning descends from the heavens and objects can block it to prevent the transformation from Billy to Shazam. So Shazam couldn’t pierce the shield over the city but at the end, he triggered the transformation that ignited the overload, which means the lightning could pierce the barrier? How? We’re confused as to how the barrier actually works.
#6 Why didn’t Anne turn into ash like her sisters?
When Shazam finally defeated Kalypso, the Goddess turned into dust. Hespera (Helen Mirren), who was outside of the dome, also turned into dust. Anne? Perfectly fine. Not a scratch on her. How does that work? Are they not a trio who are somehow connected to each other? By that logic, when Hespera turned to dust following Kaylpso’s death, Anne should too. Unless, it only works if they are still powerful goddesses since Anne’s powers got taken away during the third act.
#7 How did Diana know when and where to show up?
Wonder Woman/Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) was teased A LOT in the movie. She didn’t show up until the tail end of the film, at Shazam’s funeral. It was said that only a God could bring Shazam back and then she miraculously appeared to revive him – and also return Anne her powers. There was a cute little interaction between Shazam and Diana where he mentioned writing her a letter, but even then how did she know just when and where to show up? And where was she throughout the movie?
#8 What’s happening to the Justice Society now that Black Adam is not happening?
In one of the two post credits scenes in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Shazam was being pitched to join the Justice Society of America. Now if that sounds familiar to you, it’s because Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s Black Adam actually introduced the team of supers. Unless you’ve been living under the rock, you would know that the new DC heads are no longer going forward with the Black Adam franchise, which Johnson has teased will inevitably join together with the Shazam! movies and characters at one point. Now that half of that equation is gone, what’s going to happen to the Justice Society of America? Is DC just going to forget about the events of the recent movie and move forward with the same heroes and cast, or is Shazam’s entrance into the supergroup an opportunity for DC to rehaul and reboot the group entirely?
#9 Why does Amanda Waller and her team keep appearing?
Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) – the woman behind Task Force X. We’ve seen her a number of times throughout previous DC movies and in the hit TV series Peacemaker. Waller and her team, mainly that of Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee), are recurring characters. We saw them in Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ post-credits scene attempting to recruit Shazam into a supergroup. If we know anything from small appearances is that they often lead up to something bigger. We’re hoping this’ll lead to a major Justice League-level type of movie.
#10 Where is the Justice League?
Sure, the Justice Society of America is great but…. where is the Justice League? The last time we saw the Justice League was in 2017 and then later on in Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021. With all the changes within DC Studios, will we ever get another Justice League movie? We’re not entirely hopeful now that Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill are no longer Batman and Superman respectively and Wonder Woman 3 has been canned but the Justice League is like the Avengers to Marvel. At least Marvel Studios gave complete endings or a smooth transition for the Avengers when they reached the end of their road. DC fans do not have the same privilege.
Bonus question: Where is Black Adam?
Yes, we know the behind the scenes drama where Dwayne Johnson declined to appear in the sequel, and blocked the film from using the Justice Society characters (just how powerful is The Rock?), but surely the Shazamily would have heard of Black Adam in the news and now that the wizard (Djimon Hansou) who granted them all their powers is back, doesn’t it warrant some mention that there’s another dude with God-like powers running around?
Unless events of this sequel took place before events of Black Adam, which might be plausible but hey, look! Wonder Woman re-powered the staff with magic that can return all the powers of the Gods to the Shazamily. Guess what? That stick also steals powers so point it at Black Adam and watch as the balance of power in the DC Movie universe shifts again.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.
Natalie
