Shazam, previously known as Captain Marvel, has been around since the Golden Age of Comics; at one point, he was arguably more popular than Superman! Now, after decades of appearances on the printed page, TV shows and video games, the World's Mightiest Mortal is finally making his live action theatrical debut next year, and straight out of San Diego Comic-Con, the first Shazam! trailer has arrived. Take a look, below!
Inspired by Shazam's New 52 origin story, Shazam! sees Billy Batson (Asher Angel) joining a foster family, as his parents died when he was five. Among the members of this family are Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), who looks like he'll be one of the main sources of comedic relief in the movie. But more importantly, this preview shows us Billy taking the first steps on his superhero journey, as what he believed would be a normal subway ride turns instead brings him before the mysterious Wizard. Upon saying the Wzard's name (you guessed it, it's Shazam), Billy is transformed into a mighty, costumed adult (Zachary Levi) with a wide variety of superpowers. That's where things take a more amusing turn.
Even though it's set in the DC Extended Universe, Shazam! definitely feels much different than its predecessors. Upon finding Freddy and convincing him who he is, the Shazam-ified Billy starts testing out his powers with Freddy's help. Super strength is relatively easy to use, but he still needs to get the hang of flight and conjuring electricity. Still, being a superhero is a dream many kids have, so for Billy, this is the ultimate wish fulfillment. He gets to beat up common criminals and enjoy snacks afterwards!
But as is the case with every superhero movie, eventually a super villain comes in. Originally the plan was for Shazam to fight Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson) in his first movie, but the Kahndaqian anti-hero's introduction is now being saved for his own movie. Instead, Shazam will clash with Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), who is usually depicted in the comics as being extremely intelligent, but physically weak. Not so in Shazam!, because as this trailer shows, the DCEU's Sivana can easily catch one of our intrepid hero's punches. It looks like Sivana will be also be a physical threat, and if that eye of his is any indication, like his New 52 counterpart, he's also capable of seeing magic. So yeah, being a superhero won't be quite as easy as Billy initially assumed.
Directed by David F. Sandberg, Shazam! will works its magic in theaters on April 5, 2019, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates about the movie. In the meantime, look through our DC movies guide to learn what other DCEU projects are in development, and check out our 2018 release schedule to find out what movies are coming later this year.
