Shazam! is a 2019 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. Produced by New Line Cinema and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the seventh installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Directed by David F. Sandberg from a screenplay by Henry Gayden, and a story by Gayden and Darren Lemke, the film stars Asher Angel as Billy Batson, a teenage boy who can transform into an adult superhero, played by Zachary Levi. Mark Strong and Jack Dylan Grazer also star.
Plot[]
In 1974, upstate New York, a boy named Thaddeus Sivana is magically transported to the Rock of Eternity, a magical temple in another dimension, by the ancient wizard Shazam. Shazam explains that he has spent centuries searching for a new champion who is "pure of heart," after his first turned evil and unleashed the Seven Deadly Sins upon the ancient world. The Sins, now trapped in statues within the Rock, tempt Thaddeus with promises of power, and the boy is banished back to Earth as unworthy to be the champion.
In December 2018 in Philadelphia, 14-year-old foster kid Billy Batson runs afoul of the law while searching for his birth mother. A social worker places Billy in a group home run by Victor and Rosa Vazquez, who have five other foster kids: Mary, Pedro, Eugene, Darla, and Billy's new roommate Freddy Freeman. Billy does not warm to his new family, and Pedro discovers Billy's notes for his search.
Meanwhile, using testimonies of other people magically abducted and rejected by Shazam over the years, the adult Sivana discovers how to return to the Rock of Eternity. He steals the Eye of Sin from the Rock, freeing the Sins and becoming their champion. Sivana uses his new powers to attack the Wizard and kill his abusive father and brother.
While at school, Billy saves Freddy from bullies. He leads the bullies on a chase into the subway, where he is summoned by Shazam. Chosen by the dying wizard as the champion, Billy is transformed into an adult with an array of superpowers. By saying "Shazam!" Billy can change back and forth between teenager and adult superhero. With the help of Freddy, an amateur superhero expert, Billy begins to learn the full extent of his newfound powers. Freddy posts YouTube videos of Shazam testing his powers, making him a viral sensation. After Freddy brags to their classmates about knowing Shazam, Billy abandons him and skips school to entertain fans as Shazam for money. After seeing Shazam save a bus on the news, Sivana attacks him, demanding he give up his power. The untested Shazam is easily defeated but transforms back into Billy to escape into the fleeing crowd. After Freddy confronts Billy over the misuse of his powers, Sivana captures Freddy, who is forced to tell Sivana where they live.
At the Vazquez home, the other kids discover Billy's secret and reveal to Billy that they have found Billy's mother living nearby. Billy runs away to finally meet his mother, whom he learns intentionally abandoned him years ago due to her belief she would be unable to care for him. Meanwhile, Sivana turns up to the Vazquez home with Freddy, and forces Freddy to call Billy. Billy returns home as Shazam and agrees to give Sivana his powers in exchange for sparing his family's lives. However, Freddy and the other kids follow Shazam and Sivana to the Rock of Eternity and attack Sivana. This gives Shazam and the kids time to escape and realize that when the Sins leave his body, Sivana is mortal and can be hurt.
Sivana chases Shazam and the kids to a Winter Carnival, where Sivana unleashes the Sins on them and the carnival goers. Shazam shares his powers with his foster siblings, causing them to also become adult superheroes with powers.[N 1] While Freddy, Mary, and the others keep the Sins busy, Shazam fights with Sivana himself, defeating him by drawing the only Sin still housed in Sivana's body out of him, leaving him powerless. Shazam and his family are hailed as heroes, and Billy embraces his foster family as his true family. They return the Eye of Sin to the Rock of Eternity, and realize they can use the Rock as their secret lair. Billy also shows up at school as Shazam to endorse Freddy before revealing he also brought a friend: Superman.
In a mid-credits scene, Sivana is recruited into a partnership with the caterpillar-like creature Mister Mind. In a post-credits scene, Freddy tests whether Shazam can talk to fish, citing Aquaman, only for Shazam to dismiss the power as stupid.
Cast[]
- Asher Angel as Billy Batson[7]
- Zachary Levi as the Shazam Avatar[4]
- Djimon Hounsou as Shazam the Wizard[8]
- Mark Strong as Dr. Thaddeus Sivana[9][10]
- Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman[11][12]
- Adam Brody as the Freddy Freeman Avatar[13]
- Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield[14][6]
- Michelle Borth as the Mary Bromfield Avatar
- Ian Chen as Eugene Choi[12]
- Ross Butler as the Eugene Choi Avatar[15]
- Jovan Armand as Pedro Peña[12]
- D. J. Cotrona as the Pedro Peña Avatar[13]
- Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley[16][6]
- Meagan Good as the Darla Dudley Avatar
- Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez[17]
- Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez[18][6]
- Lotta Losten as Dr. Lynn Crosby[19][20]
- Andi Osho as E. B. Glover[21]
- Carson MacCormac as Brett Breyer
- Evan Marsh as Burke Breyer
- Caroline Palmer as Marilyn Batson
- David F. Sandberg as Mister Mind (voice)[22]
- Ryan Handley as Superman
Future[]
Spin-Off[]
Main article: Black Adam
- A spin-off: Black Adam starring Dwayne Johnson was released in 2022.
Sequel[]
Main article: Shazam! Fury of the Gods
- Shazam! will be followed by a sequel: Shazam! Fury of the Gods was released in 2023.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the seventh film in the DC Extended Universe.
- This is the second film centering on Shazam.
- This is the first Shazam! film adaptation since Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941).
- Originally, this was going to be one film with Shazam and Black Adam meeting and clashing, but the producers decided to split the film into two origin films for both characters, with Black Adam being its own story set in Ancient Egypt with other heroes. However, Black Adam is mentioned in the film as an ancient champion the Wizard had chosen, who went bad.
- Throughout the film, Billy Batson's superpowered form gets a variety of different names, without getting an official name. This is a homage to the controversy over Captain Marvel's name; it keeps changing between different titles (Captain Marvel, Shazam, Captain Thunder) due to the issues with rival company Marvel having a similar name as well as a similar hero called Captain Marvel.
- Billy's father is identified by the initials "C.C.", this comes from Captain Marvel's original artist C.C. Beck.
- Both DC Comics and Marvel Comics have a hero called Captain Marvel, whose feature film adaptations both star Djimon Hounsou and were both released in 2019. The differences are:
- Shazam! (2019) is a male teenager who received godly powers and a superhuman form.
- Captain Marvel (2019) is a female superhero who received alien powers and retained her original form.
- DC's Captain Marvel is the original, first hitting comic book stands in 1939. DC renamed their New 52/Rebirth version of "Captain Marvel" to "Shazam" in 2012, due in part to Marvel holding the trademark on the name. However, DC still produces versions named Captain Marvel in print and animation.
- Fawcett Central High School is named after Fawcett Comics, the company that originally created the Captain Marvel character in 1939.
- The Annabelle doll from director David F. Sandberg's Annabelle: Creation (2017) can be seen in a shop window. Both films star Grace Fulton. This is the second time that doll has appeared in a DC Comics film; it was last seen in Aquaman (2018).
- This film releases on the 80th anniversary of Captain Marvel's debut.
- When Shazam throws Batman in the toy store you can see Cyborg and Wonder Woman on the shelf along with Batman and Superman toys strengthening the notion this takes place in the current DC universe.
- Prior to this film the only live-action portrayal of Dr. Sivana was by Howard Morris in Legends of the Superheroes (1979).
- This is the second role for Mark Strong in a DC film. He previously played Sinestro in Green Lantern (2011).
- During the fight in the toy store, Shazam and Dr. Sivana run across a giant keyboard. This is a reference to Big (1988) which, like this film, features a boy turning into an adult overnight. In the film, Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia play two songs on a similar keyboard in a toy store by hopping on it.
- According to the filmmakers, the hardest part of designing the suit was getting the thunderbolt design to fit into the triangular chestplate.
- According to producer Peter Safran, the film takes place in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), and he indicated there could be crossover interaction between Shazam! and the Justice League in potential future DCEU films.
- John Glover, who plays Thaddeus Sivana's father, has a history in the DC universe as the voice of The Riddler in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), Dr. Jason Woodrue in Batman & Robin (1997), and as Lionel Luthor in Smallville (2001).
- The filmmakers cite the teen fantasies Big (1988) and Stranger Things (2016) as influences.
- Zachary Levi is among few actors to appear in both the DC Extended Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He portrays Fandral in Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
- This is Djimon Hounsou's fifth comic-book role, after Papa Midnite in Constantine (2005), T'Çhalla in Black Panther (2010), Korath the Pursuer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series and King Ricou in Aquaman (2018).
- During early development, the film was titled "Billy Batson & The Legend of Shazam".
- The film has a prologue set in 1974, the year Shazam! (1974) (the previous live-action adaptation of Captain Marvel) debuted on TV.
- This is Mark Strong's fifth comic-book feature after working on Kick-Ass (2010), Green Lantern (2011), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017).
- Composer Benjamin Wallfisch cites the music 1970s and 1980s films as an influence on the film's score - specifically John Williams's Superman (1978) score and Alan Silvestri's work on the "Back to the Future" films - to match the tone of a film about "an old-school superhero from the Golden Age."
- Wallfisch, in his own words, "pictured what might happen if a 14-year-old was put in front of a 100 piece orchestra and told there were no limits. I wanted the score to feel like it might have been written by an exuberant kid just having the time of his life with an orchestra."
- Dwayne Johnson wanted Armie Hammer to play Shazam.
- Sam Raimi had expressed interest in directing the film.
- Alan Alda, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Keaton and Tony Shalhoub were being considered to play the wizard Shazam.
- Jake McDorman, Parker Young, Joshua Sasse, Derek Theler, and John Cena were the front runners for Shazam before the part went to Zachary Levi.
| Shazam! |
|---|
| Shazam! (2019), Black Adam (2022), Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) |
| DC Extended Universe |
|---|
| Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Suicide Squad (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), Justice League (2017), Aquaman (2018), Shazam! (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), The Suicide Squad (2021), Black Adam (2022), Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023), The Flash (2023), Blue Beetle (2023), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) |