Talk about unknown heroes! Unless you’re pretty into comics, you might be wondering- who is Shazam!? and what we could we possibly expect in this upcoming feature film starring Chuck lead Zachary Levi.
via GIPHY
A quick comic-book back story on Shazam!: So, Billy Batson is an orphan who gets accidentally summoned by a powerful wizard. Due to his dwindling power, the wizard was only able to summon a child, instead of what he was legitimately reaching for: a “champion”! He asks an almighty entity if Billy is the “chosen one” and after a verbal altercation he was finally chosen to carry the power of S.H.A.Z.A.M! The name stands for the powers he possesses such at the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. Together it provides Billy the strength he needs to defeat his foes with a flick of the wrist. So without further delay, let’s take a look at the teaser trailer to see what the World’s of DC* has in store for us.
*(DCEU’s official name as of Saturday, July 21st, 2018; introduced at San Diegos 48th Comic-Con in Hall H.)
Set to come out next spring. The teaser trailer starts off with Billy Batson (Asher Angel) having a conversation with his care-taker, Mrs. Glover (Andi Osho), discussing his inability to stay in any foster home. Billy declares he can take care of himself while Mrs. Glover disputes the fact that he can’t legally do so until he’s 18 years old. {So, as far as his backstory goes it still holds similarities to the comic books origin story}. In the same scene we get a chance too see Rosa Vasquez (Marta Milans) and Victor Vasquez (Cooper Andrews) through the window of Mrs. Glovers office. Next scene we see Rosa introducing Billy to his new family. First family member we get introduced to is Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) who is disabled but doesn’t let that bring down his mood. In the same clip after Freddy gets up to talk to Billy we get a small clip of the family at the dinner table and a joke from Freddy showing his amazing mood despite his circumstances. This clip is one of the first important scenes we get to see in my opinion; because #1. it’s the first time we see Billys bff Freddy and #2. it’s the first time we see the full Shazam Family cast together. Sitting at the table we see Mary “Marvel” Bromfield (Grace Fulton), Eugene Choi (Ian Chen) under Mr. Vasquez’s arm, Freddy Freeman, Billy Batson, Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman) , and Pedro Peña (Jovan Armand). After this introduction, the next thing we see is Billy and Freddy discussing super powers, because of Freddy’s love for comic books; after they leave school Freddy gets picked on by some bullies and Billy steps in to save him. After beating them up, the two “siblings” run away from their assailants into a nearby subway station and manage to hop on the subway and escape the bullies. This is where shit gets real!!! In the trailer, unlike the comic, The Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) calls upon Billy to take the helm as the almighty hero. With a shout to the sky “SHAZAM!” *thunder sound effects* Billy turns into the man of myth; Shazam! (Zachary Levi). He runs home to find Freddy, still as Shazam, and tells Freddy not to be afraid because mentally he’s still Billy but with a new body that, without his knowledge, could do incredible things. A montage starts of Billy and Freddy testing Shazams powers and in the montage scene we get a good look at our possible main antagonist for this movie Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong). I won’t get into his back story, but I was kind of offset because, this means, we might not see Black Adam in this movie. Regardless Dr. Sivana is an awesome villain to have on the big screen because the man is still evil AF. Anyways, the last scene of this trailer was actually LIT for me because it’s a comic book easter egg where Freddy and Billy go to a convenience store to purshace alcohol; it’s just fun too see some of those pages on the big screen. I always geek out because I’m both a DC and Marvel fanatic.
Overall, I think this movie is going to be a fun watch; I know I’m definitely gonna be in theatres when it comes out. I’m a huge fan of Zachary Levi and I’m hoping he’ll do a great job portraying Shazam. The teaser was awesome, I loved how we got glimpses of a lot of the cast. As previously stated the Shazam Fam was hype to see I can’t wait too see if, like in the comic, Billy gives them a bit of Shazam power and it’s also hype to see Dr. Sivana on screen too. I’m still a little bummed because a lot of rumours were flying around that Dwayne Johnson was going to be casted as Black Adam; but Shazams IMDB page doesn’t show The Rock at all. So, I don’t think it’ll happen but you never know!!! What do you think? Are you excited to watch Shazam? Did you even know who Shazam was? Did I say Shazam too gotdamn much in this article? Let us know in the comments!!!
Shazam! is set to be released on April 5, 2019.
[Edit: 08-28-2018 0:19AM Dwayne Johnson is listed as an executive producer on SHAZAM!’S IMDB page. On his own IMDB page, he’s listed to star as Black Adam in the Black Adam movie currently in pre-production.]
