San Diego Comic-Con usually kicks off its Saturday mornings with Warner Bros revealing a few first looks at their DC Slate. And one of the biggest and most anticipated films is “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” And now we are getting to see a little bit of what director David F. Sandberg has in store for us has he revealed the first trailer for the sequel, which sees Billy Batson (Asher Angel) in fear of the future because he is nearing adulthood and is afraid of getting old.
Set against Eminem’s “Business,” the “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” trailer finds Batson in his Shazam (Zachary Levi) going through an existential crisis. Believing that he doesn’t deserve these powers and that he doesn’t contribute to heroism or look as cool as Batman, Aquaman, or the Flash. “I feel like a fraud,” he says.
But that dread isn’t Billy’s only problem. Now that his whole family has superpowers and are off doing their own thing, he is having a difficult time keeping it all together. That sense of family is something Billy has not known up until now. But that theme will play a huge role as we will soon see now that the daughters of Atlas (Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu) have arrived to reclaim the powers of the gods.
“Look, I might not have as much experience as you, cause I am not super old as you,” Shazam says to Mirren’s character. “But I’ve seen all of the ‘Fast and the Furious’ movies, lady. It’s all about family!”
Of course, that meta joke did get a little chuckle out of me considering how the Fast and Furious movies make a big thing about family, and Mirren also stars in them.
And while this is yet another superhero film, “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” is grounded by its themes of family. In the first, we saw that the orphan Billy Batson finally found a home. And so, in the sequel, it appears not only is Billy afraid of getting old, he’s also afraid of losing the family he just found.
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” stars returning cast members Zachary Levi (“Thor: Ragnarok”) as Shazam; Asher Angel (“Andi Mack”) as Billy Batson; Jack Dylan Grazer (“It Chapter Two”) as Freddy Freeman; Adam Brody (“Promising Young Woman”) as Super Hero Freddy;Ross Butler (“Raya and the Last Dragon”) as Super Hero Eugene; Meagan Good (“Day Shift”) as Super Hero Darla; D.J. Cotrona (“G.I. Joe: Retaliation”) as Super Hero Pedro; Grace Caroline Currey (“Annabelle: Creation”) as Mary Bromfield / Super Hero Mary; Faithe Herman (“This Is Us”) as Darla Dudley; Ian Chen (“A Dog’s Journey”) as Eugene Choi; Jovan Armand (“Second Chances”) as Pedro Pena; Marta Milans (“White Lines”) as Rosa Vasquez; Cooper Andrews (“The Walking Dead”) as Victor Vasquez; with Djimon Hounsou(“A Quiet Place Part II”) as Wizard. Joining the cast are Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story”), with Lucy Liu (“Kung Fu Panda” franchise) and Helen Mirren (“F9: The Fast Saga”).
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” hits theaters on December 21, 2022.
