Actress Lucy Liu is no stranger to the world of action, having starred as Alex Munday in the original Charlie Angels movies and gone head-to-head with Uma Thurman as O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill: Volume 1. Now word’s come in that Liu is jumping back into the action fold, namely by joining her first superhero movie. She’s been added to Shazam! 2, a.k.a. Shazam! Fury of the Gods, as one of the villains.
It’s been officially announced that Lucy Liu will take part in Shazam! Fury of the Gods as Kalypso, one of the eponymous deities. Kalypso is the sister of Helen Mirren’s Hespera (who was revealed late last month), and they both share the same father, Atlas, one of the legendary figures who Billy Batson draws his incredible power from, specifically stamina. Like Hespera, Kalypso doesn’t have a specific counterpart in the DC Comics canon, so it’ll be hard to predict what we can expect from the character other than simply causing trouble for Shazam and the rest of his superheroic family.
Lucy Liu is the third new actor to be added to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, following Helen Mirren (who’s been gaining action cred over the last decade from her time in the RED and Fast & Furious movies) and Rachel Zegler, who’s starring in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake. Zegler’s character is also reportedly one of Kalypso’s sisters, but her identity hasn’t been disclosed yet. As far as her recent work goes, Liu starred as Joan Watson on the CBS series Elementary and Simone Grove in the first season of CBS All Access’ Why Women Kill. She’s also voiced Master Viper in the Kung Fu Panda movies.
When we last left off with Billy Batson at the end of Shazam!, he was no longer in the superhero game on his own, as he shared his powers with his foster siblings Freddy, Mary, Eugene, Darla and Pedro during the battle with Doctor Thaddeus Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins. Philadelphia now has six superheroes looking after it, but clearly these new gods (not to be confused with the New Gods, who are no longer leading their own movie) popping out of the woodwork aren’t going to make the Shazam Family’s jobs any easier. It remains to be seen if any of the other legendary figures that make up the SHAZAM acronym (Solomon, Hercules, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury) also have offspring who will take part in Fury of the Gods.
Of course, let’s not forget that these gods aren’t the only Shazam antagonists lurking in the DC Extended Universe. For one thing, Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam will soon debut in his own movie, and you can count on him and the World’s Mightiest Mortal eventually clashing. But even ignoring the Kahndaqian powerhouse, Shazam!’s mid-credits scene showed the incarcerated Sivana being visited by the super intelligent caterpillar known as Mister Mind, who proposed they team up to conquer the Seven Realms. It hasn’t been confirmed yet if these two will part participate in Shazam! Fury of the Gods or if their nefarious schemes are being saved for a hypothetical Shazam! 3.
In any case, while Shazam! Fury of the Gods is arriving later than originally expected, it’s shaping up to be something interesting. Keep checking with CinemaBlend for updates on the sequel’s progress as we approach its June 3, 2023 release date, as well as any other news concerning upcoming DC Comics movies.
