![]() ![]() Now look, most superhero stories exhibit some religious undertones, but Shazam! wears them right on its spandex sleeves. Rejected by the wizard as unworthy, Sivana spends the rest of his life searching for a way back to the Rock of Eternity so he can claim the power the Sins promised him. As a boy, Sivana was among those given the same opportunity, but his heart didn’t prove pure enough to withstand the temptations of The Seven Deadly Sins. As it turns out, Billy was not the first child tested by the wizard Shazam. The rest of Billy’s on-the-job training comes through his interactions with the movie’s villain, Dr. These parts of the narrative never reach the sturm-und-drang level of someone like Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker, but they do provide a nice emotional underpinning to what is otherwise a purposely goofy movie. Part of said experience comes through Billy’s obsession with locating his birth mother and the subsequent difficulties this causes in his ability to accept the people in his foster home as his actual family. The latter, alas, can only be gained from experience. The former is handled through a hilarious sequence in which Billy and his foster brother Freddy check for various abilities such as flight and invulnerability to fire. That means there’s something of a learning curve for the new hero on the block, both in terms of how to use his amazing powers, and in finding out just what it means to be a true hero instead of a costumed jerk. ![]() The thing is, Billy may turn into a six-foot tall adult who is as strong as Superman and as fast as the Flash, but inside he’s still just a young, confused boy. Is it any wonder kids immediately loved this concept so much? There’s no training for years to wear a bat-suit, no need to be an alien from a dying planet just say the word and zap, instant super-hero. All Billy has to do is say the wizard’s name and, shazam (yes, this is where that exclamation originated), magic lightning transforms Billy into the world’s mightiest mortal. Of course, fun has always been at the very core of Captain Mar … um, Shazam! After all, this is the story of a 14-year-old orphan named Billy Batson who is transported from a subway train to the Rock of Eternity by an ancient wizard who promises the lad super powers (eat your heart out, Harry Potter). However, those who have never followed comics need not worry about being left out, because if there’s one thing the movie Shazam! has plenty of for everybody, it’s fun. So yeah, the character’s in-movie name troubles are a fun Easter egg for comic fans in the know. That left our titular hero with something of an identity crisis when he later returned to publication. Unfortunately, long after the character was forced into retirement in the 1950s due to legal reasons, some guy you may have heard of by the name of Stan Lee eagerly snapped up the Captain Marvel moniker and copyrighted it for one of his own creations. You see, as all good fanboys (and girls) know, Shazam (as he’s now known) first appeared in 1939 under the name Captain Marvel, where he quickly became the most popular hero of his time, outselling even Superman himself. For old-school comic book nerds, it’s a fun nod to the character’s history. Captain Sparkle-fingers is a strong contender for first place. There’s a running gag throughout the movie Shazam! that revolves around the title character trying to figure out just what his superhero name should be. And that’s very groovy.” (Watch our video interview above.The whole premise of the movie is pure homily fodder. “The fact that our movie in its own true DNA is about a foster family made up of a very racially diverse group of kids, and parents we have a very cool privilege to represent a lot of underrepresented people. ![]() In that way, Shazam! can claim to be the first multicultural superhero clan to appear onscreen in a major studio comic-book movie, and that achievement delights Levi. When he’s not flying around looking a lot like Zachary Levi, young orphan Billy Batson (Asher Angel) lives with a blended family of foster kids who hail from a richly diverse background. Now the DCEU’s latest colorfully clad crimefighter, Shazam, is flying onto the big screen and bringing his equally colorful family along for the ride. Last year, Aquaman swam to a billion-dollar global gross on the back of its biracial leading man, Jason Momoa. 2017’s Wonder Woman was the first female-fronted superhero movie to cross the $400 million mark at the domestic box office, beating Captain Marvel to the punch by two years. After playing catch-up to Marvel Studios for a few years, the DC Extended Universe has pulled even with its distinguished competitor by embracing the diversity of its onscreen superheroes. ![]()
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