The ecosystem running the DC movies continues to shift in shape under the new management of James Gunn and Peter Safran, with the future still under construction. Amidst those changes are the release of some projects like Shazam! Fury of the Gods that carry over from the old guard.
While things look pretty serious this time out, director David F. Sandberg's big sequel still has enough humor to make a quick and quippy Game of Thrones reference. Our latest look at the next Warner Bros picture from the DCEU showed both sides of the coin, as Zachary Levi's Shazam! hero is seen fretting over the fate of his family, while calling a dragon "Khalessi."
Shazam! Fury of the Gods already looked like it was going to outdo its 2019 predecessor, though revisiting the movie with an HBO Max subscription is the only true way to tell. Looking at the new pieces from the Zachary Levi-starring puzzle, in conjunction with those details we got from the film’s first trailer, Shazam! 2 looks like it's going to be living up to the claim that it's time to grow up.
There's no better time for that to happen, given that Shazam! Fury of the Gods has Helen Mirren’s Hespera and Lucy Liu’s Kalypso, daughters of Atlas himself, ready to ruin the world as we know it. One powerful staff sits at the center of it all, as this mystical weapon could be the key to what we know about DC’s latest doomsday.
It also seems to drain the Shazam! Family of its powers at a moment’s notice, which may explain why the titular hero is looking a bit rough in his big battle with Kalypso in Philly’s Citizen’s Bank Park. Still, there's plenty of time for dragon jokes, and Zachary Levi getting punted across a city street by an insanely powerful Hespera. That's a GIF that could become a seriously popular meme in the coming year, which only shows that the heart and humor are still a part of the formula in this next round.
There’s still plenty of mystery as to what we’ll see in Shazam 2, as well as what sorts of connections will be laid down for the future. However, we do know that Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam will not be one of the film’s cameos. Apparently, family and the Fast Saga’s influence can only go so far in Billy Batson’s Philadelphia, but that doesn’t look to be too much of a worry, as the next Shazam adventure has plenty of action and jokes to drive DC Comics movies into the future.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods calls down the thunder on March 17th. That’s not all to expect from the world of upcoming superhero movies in 2023, so don’t forget to frequently check that schedule. You never know when the multiversal timeline will shift, sending something you expected last December into a release date set for this March.
