The Shazam Household – or Shazamily for those who want – are again in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, a sequel to the hit 2019 movie. This outing, teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his grownup superhero alter ego, Shazam (Zachary Levi), are being actively joined in superhero adventures by Billy’s 5 foster siblings, who he shared his powers with on the finish of the primary movie. However bother is on the horizon within the type of a trio of historic goddesses (Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler) who lay unique declare to that energy and now intend to take it again for themselves, with probably dire penalties for humanity.
In a collection with a lot centered on characters gaining and presumably shedding immense energy, we puzzled, if these youngsters had been to achieve their full potential, who could be probably the most highly effective member of the Shazam Household and requested the neighborhood at Fandom’s DCEU Wiki in a ballot – after which ran these outcomes by the solid of the movie.
Learn on for what the solid and filmmakers needed to say about these energy ranges, Fury of the Gods pitting two units of siblings up in opposition to one another, the stealth horror moments the Shazam movies embrace, and the potential way forward for the franchise, because the DCEU transforms into the DCU.
WHO’S GOT THE POWER?
Let’s not mince phrases right here. Billy Batson, AKA Shazam himself, dominated our ballot, getting 82% of the vote by the point we spoke to the solid. That’s in all probability not too surprising although, contemplating he’s the title character. So actually, the massive race was to see who followers felt might find yourself because the second strongest member of the household after Billy.
Although Zachary Levi was amused to listen to his character had so firmly are available in first, he replied, “In equity, I’m the supply of the powers, so I suppose I might in all probability have an edge, however at the least how I learn it within the comics — and I feel the way in which that we’re making an attempt to signify it — is that every one of many remainder of the Shazamily have a kind of powers kicked up a little bit bit extra.”
Returning Director David F. Sandberg agreed, noting that whereas they discarded the sooner thought to have every member of the family solely retain certainly one of Billy’s powers, “They’ve their specialties. Darla‘s the quickest, Pedro‘s the strongest, Mary‘s the neatest…”
The solid in the meantime, had a whole lot of totally different ideas about who would rank because the one who may very well be probably the most highly effective after Billy, many jokingly arguing for themselves, although a number of famous Freddy’s enormous need to be an excellent superhero as giving him a leg up. Stated Adam Brody (“Tremendous Hero Freddy”), of Freddy, “He’s thirsty for it! he’ll put within the work and the coaching” and Meagan Good (“Tremendous Hero Darla”) agreed, “He needs to study. He needs to achieve his full potential.” Levi famous there have been execs and cons to Freddy’s ardour although, remarking, “That may be a little bit little bit of a kryptonite too as a result of possibly you’re wanting it an excessive amount of. However he’s acquired the know-how about it as a result of he’s already been finding out all of the superheroes.”
In the end, on the ballot, it was Mary who got here in second after Billy, with Freddy following in third. Joked Grace Caroline Currey (“Mary Bromfield / Tremendous Hero Mary”), when listening to this, “I feel the swimsuit type of in all probability subconsciously [helped]. Folks had been like, ‘She’s subsequent! She’s additionally crimson! She’s additionally highly effective!“
Currey’s costars and her director might see why she received although, with Sandberg noting, “It seems like Mary’s the smarter, extra accountable one. It seems like she might actually use her full potential higher.”
FAMILY V FAMILY
The Shazam household’s opponents in Fury of the Gods are the Daughters of Atlas, an imposing group of goddesses made up of Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Rachel Zegler). As their identify implies, this trio are sisters and Ross Butler (“Tremendous Hero Eugene”) remarked, “You’ve two households going up in opposition to one another and that simply ups the stakes, as a result of not solely are we a workforce, we’re household,” including he particularly preferred that the Shazam household will not be blood relations however signify a selected household.
The Daughters of Atlas have some notable variations from the Shazam household – definitely when it comes to life expertise – however Lucy Liu felt there have been innate similarities as properly, mentioning each teams represented “The sibling type of hierarchies which are there,” noting, of her massive display screen massive sister, “Like if Helen was right here, we’d differ to her!”
Rachel Zegler added there have been some fascinating parallels between the 2 opposing households, saying to Liu, “You are feeling like your sisters are slipping away and also you begin gripping on actually laborious and it seems not nice. And Billy is doing type of the identical factor as a result of he seems like everyone needs to go do their very own factor and he’s gripping actually laborious.”
Zegler felt you may make further direct character comparisons, remarking, “I really feel like Freddy is Anthea and I really feel like [Kalypso] and Billy are very related. After which I really feel like Hespera and Mary, there’s parallels.” When Liu stated she liked these correlations, Zegler jokingly replied, “Yeah, I noticed the film… twice!”
Stated Angel, of the echoes between the 2 sibling teams, “We each have one purpose and that’s to do what’s greatest for our households,” including he wouldn’t describe the Daughters as evil. “I might say however they’re doing what’s greatest for them and we’re doing what’s greatest for us. And we’re each opinionated and we each have our personal issues that we predict are proper.”
Sandberg agreed you are supposed to at the least perceive the Daughter’s perspective, explaining their presence within the movie got here from discussing how the Shazam household’s powers come from Gods and mythological characters. The A in Shazam in actual fact stands for Atlas, and Sandberg requested, “So what if they need these powers again as a result of they had been stolen from them? And that gave them such motivation, the villains, as a result of you possibly can perceive that. Yeah, Shazam didn’t steal them, it’s not his fault. However they don’t actually belong to him. They had been stolen by another person.”
Screenwriter Chris Morgan famous, “Within the first movie, Billy was so determined to discover a household and now on this movie he’s scared of shedding them whereas he’s pitted up in opposition to the Daughters of Atlas, who’ve type of had that occur. They’re a glimpse into the longer term a little bit bit. Way back, there was an excellent struggle and a wizard stole their powers, their legacy, their world, the lives of their family members, and now they’ve waited and so they need to get it again and never even a lot for revenge, however simply to revive what they imagine is rightfully theirs. There’s a little bit little bit of analogue forwards and backwards with what Shazam goes by and the place they’re coming from.”
Although different storylines had been thought-about, Morgan’s fellow screenwriter, Henry Gayden, defined, “Ultimately, these villains had been one of the best ways to inform a narrative a few character who didn’t imagine he deserved his powers, as a result of that’s precisely the angle of our villains. And likewise like Chris stated, they’ve skilled loss. And that’s one thing that Billy is contending with as a result of he’s scared of shedding his household.”
THE HORROR
The Shazam movies are made for audiences of all ages and constructed round a want success storyline of a child changing into a superhero however the first movie stunned some with moments that had been darker and extra horror-adjacent than many anticipated – although the resume of Sandberg previous to Shazam!, which included Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, ought to have been a tip off. This continues in Fury of the Gods, notably in its third act, which includes mythological creatures who present simply how vicious they’re. Whereas avoiding R-rated territory,there’s a real feeling of terror creeping in.
Levi stated he liked that Sandberg was capable of finding methods to lean into his horror roots within the movies, together with some direct Easter eggs like an look by Annabelle herself (glimpsed in a pediatrician’s workplace in Fury of the Gods). Past that, he added, “You’re not going to take the style out of the person, you already know what I imply, and I feel that’s a part of the explanation why they wished to carry David onto direct the primary one and now this one. There’s acquired to be an edge to this. It might probably’t simply be a bunch of children goofing off and playing around otherwise you type of lose the plot a little bit bit with that. It is likely to be enjoyable, but it surely’s acquired to have some type of weight, it’s acquired to have some type of hazard and and I feel that while you’re capable of carry any person like David in who already has such an excellent eye for the macabre and for the style for all that it brings that additional little little bit of edge and darkness that that you could stability it.”
Currey famous that Sandberg has used Jurassic Park as a reference for the way scary they can go and D.J. Cotrona evoked movies like The Darkish Crystal and Labyrinth, saying, “it jogs my memory of a few of Jim Henson‘s stuff, which was extremely lovely and improbable for youths however in addition they had this very darkish edge. And it’s one thing about that stability that’s actually, actually enjoyable and particular.” Butler chuckled, noting, “There are leap scares within the second film which are insane.”
Stated Lucy Liu, “I feel there’s a pleasant layer of darkness within the film and I feel it doesn’t actually attain that time till the final a part of it. And that’s type of the key [ingredient]… I feel the connection that David makes with darkness and comedy actually brings to life Shazam.”
Jack Dylan Grazer (“Freddy Freeman”) felt equally and stated he felt a whole lot of admiration for Sandberg, stating, “He by no means ceases to amaze me as a director, as a artistic, as an imaginator. He finds a seamless means of mixing and creating one thing between comedy and horror. That’s so pure to him. He does it in a means that doesn’t break the themes. It’s not a jarring halt. It truly feels very constant.”
Stated Sandberg, of together with these beats, “I like that stuff, as a result of you could have an actual sense of menace and hazard. And I simply actually love monsters and horror moments like that and I all the time need to get as a lot as potential of that.”
Gayden — who wrote each movies – famous he all the time feels inspired to incorporate these horror-tinged moments within the Shazam scripts, understanding Sandberg is directing. As Gayden put it, “He’s so good at that. And it’s so invaluable to the tone of the flicks, as a result of I feel if we didn’t have that it could veer a little bit an excessive amount of into sentimental or treacly or comedy. He actually grounds the film with these moments. That’s one component that I don’t assume we might replicate with one other director.”
Good was certainly one of a number of solid members to recall their shock seeing the boardroom scene within the first Shazam, wherein Sivana (Mark Robust) throws his personal brother out of a window to his loss of life earlier than unleashing the brutal incarnations of the Seven Lethal Sins to bloodbath everybody within the room, his father included. Good joked that her first thought was, “‘Are we allowed to do that? There’s youngsters in right here!’ However when you concentrate on it, the stuff that we watched once we had been youngsters… We had been watching Halloween 4 and all types of stuff. I feel that’s such an exquisite facet to it, as a result of it does remind you that it’s additionally for adults. And it’s one thing that I feel that it type of takes it to the following degree and pushes the envelope a little bit bit.”
Adam Brody remarked, “You desire a director to have ardour and lean into their love and their instincts and you already know he’s not taking part in at it. He loves that style. It comes so naturally to him and he’s at house if he can paint with that brush a little bit bit, so I adore it.”
THE FUTURE
Although it was filmed awhile again, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now opening as enormous adjustments are occuring behind the scenes for Warner Bros. and DC, with James Gunn and Peter Safran taking on because the heads of DC Studios and fashioning an enormous new gameplan for the rechristened DC Universe, or DCU, which can take the place of what was previously generally known as the DC Prolonged Universe.
It’s identified these adjustments will contain some recasting – new actors will likely be taking part in Batman and Superman within the DCU, relatively than retaining Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill – although not every little thing is altering, since even after this summer season’s The Flash, which is the movie that’s anticipated to supply an in-universe “reset,” we’ll get the already filmed Aquaman and the Misplaced Kingdom, with Jason Momoa again within the title position. And even perhaps extra notably, given it’s not a challenge produced earlier than he and Safran took over, Gunn has introduced Viola Davis will proceed to play Amanda Waller within the DCU.
All of which leaves the Shazam movies and solid in flux, as it’s definitely potential they may proceed on as this present incarnation of the household however there is no such thing as a affirmation but on whether or not they are going to. The solid have the identical questions all of us do, however Ross Butler remarked, “The Shazam universe has so many so many locations we are able to go.”
In Fury of the Gods, we get some glimpses on the enormous corridor of doorways beneath Shazam household’s lair, all of which result in totally different realities, and Butler added, “With the corridor of doorways, actually there may be an infinite universe of what we are able to do. And all of our characters… We’re such an enormous ensemble, and so they’re all so totally different. I actually hope that we do proceed. There’s so much to mine.”
Stated Sandberg, of his conversations with the brand new regime, “They’ve advised me that since Shazam has been type of separate – the story hasn’t actually been intertwined with the remainder of DC – that there’s nothing in these films that intrude or contradict something they’re planning as they go ahead. So you may make extra Shazam films. It might nonetheless exist within the universe. We’ll see!”
Shazam! Fury of the Gods opens March 19.
