While the eyes of most DC movie fans are currently on The Flash and the potentially world altering events of that movie, before we get there we’ll have a couple other potentially strong offerings in the form of Black Adam and a sequel to the hit Shazam and now Helen Mirren has spoken a bit about her character in the new film, and she sounds perfect.
CinemaBlend was in attendance at the Warner Bros. panel at CinemaCon where the cast of Shazam: Fury of the Gods was on hand to discuss the new film. While Helen Mirren certainly didn’t want to reveal too much about her character, Hespera, one of the daughters of Atlas, she did say that, while she might be playing one of the film’s villains, Hespera certainly doesn’t see herself as the bad guy, Mirren explained…
Well, the character that I play, umm, believes she’s right. Of course, that’s what most villains and villainesses sort of believe they’re right don’t they. She’s convinced of her righteousness and I don’t want to talk too much about it because I want it to be a bit of a surprise.
The two main villains in Shazam: Fury of the Gods are Helen Mirren’s Hespera and Kalypso, played by Lucy Liu. Both are daughters of Atlas, one of the gods that Shazam draws his power from. So, while we don’t know exactly why they’re on the opposite side of Shazam, one can assume they have a problem with Billy Batson using their father’s strength. Maybe they feel he’s not truly worthy. Perhaps, it’s simply that they feel that, as daughters of Atlas, the power should be theirs.
The Shazam sequel will see the return of Zachary Levi as the titular superhero, as well as the rest of the Shazam family, as all of Billy’s foster siblings also gained power at the end of the first movie. Rachel Zegler is also set to appear in the new film in an as yet unspecified role.
Helen Mirren is a multi-time Oscar nominee and a former Best Actress winner who is without question one of the world’s greatest living actresses. While there is still something of a disconnect between those who make “awards worthy” movies and the actors that make the “popcorn movies,” Mirren clearly loves doing both. She’s previously been part of the Fast & Furious franchise and now she gets to be a villain in a superhero movie.
Shazam will have his work cut out for him not only against the movie’s villains, but at the box office as well. Fury of the Gods was previously set to open on the same day as the newly-titled Avatar: The Way of Water. The film has now been moved slightly, so Avatar 2 will open December 16 and the Shazam 2 release date is December 21, giving the long-delayed Avatar sequel at least a few days to rake in the cash on its own before the DC sequel arrives.
