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After being around for nearly 80 years, the superhero formerly known as Captain Marvel finally made his theatrical debut in Shazam!, with Mark Strong’s Dr. Thaddeus Sivana serving as the main antagonist. While Sivana was defeated at the end of Shazam!, it was made abundantly clear that we haven’t seen the last of him. Sure enough, Mark Strong has been kept in the loop on the upcoming sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods… to a degree.
While recently promoting his new TV series Temple, Mark Strong briefly addressed Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ progress with the following words:
I had such a great time on the first one and it turned out to be such a success. I’m just waiting to hear. I think the script is in development and they’re trying to get ready to do it. Obviously, it’s been interrupted by this pandemic, so things are on hold until such time as it can be filmed safely. At the moment, it’s all under wraps. I honestly know very little about it. It’s not that I don’t want to tell you anything about it. It’s just that I don’t actually know very much about it.
Shazam! scored enough positive reception within the first several days of its release that New Line Cinema didn’t waste anytime planning the sequel, with the official title being revealed at the “Hall of Heroes” portion of DC FanDome back in August. However, as Mark Strong informed Collider, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is among the many in-development movies that the health crisis has affected, resulting in the actor not quite knowing just where things currently stand.
Don’t worry, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is still coming, we’ll just have to wait a lot longer for it. Originally the plan was for the sequel to be released on April 1, 2022, thus basically arriving exactly three years after its predecessor. However, it was later moved to November 4, 2022, and as of last month, it’s been shifted to summer 2023.
But as the old saying goes, good things come to those who wait. And despite being largely kept in the dark on Shazam! Fury of the Gods lately, Mark Strong sounds like he’s eager to work on the sequel when it becomes safe to do so. Of course, Strong being a little older when Shazam! 2 rolls around isn’t as big of a deal as the younger cast members going through growth spurts, although director David F. Sandberg doesn’t seem too concerned by that.
When we left off with Dr. Sivana at the end of Shazam!, he’d been relinquished of the Eye of Sin, resulting in the Seven Deadly Sins all being recaptured. Now imprisoned for his crimes, Sivana desperately scrawled runes on his cell’s walls so he could return to the Rock of Eternity, but that didn’t work. However, he was then visited by the super-intelligent caterpillar known as Mister Mind, who informed Sivana that there were other ways to obtain power and proposed forming an alliance so that they could rule the “seven realms.”
While no plot details have been revealed for Shazam! Fury of the Gods yet, it’s a good bet that the story will involve Dr. Sivana and Mister Mind causing trouble for the Shazam family. And as the title indicates, somehow certain deities, whether they’re the ancient ones we’re familiar with or brand-new ones, will be pulled into the mix. But again, it’ll be a while before any specific information starts trickling in.
For now, you’re welcome to rewatch Shazam! on HBO Max, but make sure to keep checking back with CinemaBlend for updates on how Shazam! Fury of the Gods is progressing. Don’t forget to browse through our DC movies guide to learn what else this corner of the superhero movie genre has in the works.
