While TF1 broadcasts the first opus of the DC saga carried by Zachary Levi, spotlight on the sequel expected for 2023.
Shazam! Six letters that turn rebellious teen Billy Batson into an adult superhero. Born in 1940 in the pages of DC Comics, of which he was a key character in the years that followed, he had to wait until 2019 to make his film debut, thanks to the film directed by David F. Sandberg, revealed by the film horror In the dark.
While TF1 is broadcasting the feature film, the sequel to which was shot last year, let’s look at episode 2 with the little information we currently have.
WHEN IS IT COMING OUT?
May 31, 2023. Which is absolutely not right away. But with a year and a half of post-production, Shazam: Fury of the Gods will have plenty of time for its special effects, which we imagine to be numerous, to be refined.
THAT COMES BACK ?
Building on the great success of the first opus (366 million dollars in revenue worldwide for a budget of 100), director David F. Sandberg is back behind the camera. And finds almost all of its cast. Starting with Asher Angel and Zachary Levi, who respectively play Billy Batson and his alter ego Shazam.
But also the superheroic family, both young people and their superheroic counterparts, which will allow us to see Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Ross Butler or Meagan Good again.
Warner Bros. Pictures Adam Brody, Meagan Good, Ross Butler, Zachary Levi, Michelle Borth & DJ Cotrona: yes, the super family
Although dead in the first opus, the last wizard of the Council of Elders, who gave his powers to the young hero, will obviously be back because his interpreter Djimon Hounsou was seen on the set. No trace, however, of Mark Strong, who played the villainous Thaddeus Sivana in the first opus.
WHO ARE THE NEWS?
Mark Strong will therefore obviously not be part of it. And we will probably have to wait before seeing the arrival of Black Adam, Shazam’s nemesis who will have his own film next July (but perhaps a success will give rise to a post-credits scene, or even an alternative ending, with Dwayne Johnson ). But the hero will have plenty to do by facing divine villains. Or rather villains: Hespera and the nymph Calypso, respectively played by Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Revealed by Steven Spielberg and West Side Story, Rachel Zegler will also be in the credits. And she could be part of the antagonists since she will play Hespera’s sister, even if a photo showing her, calmly, with Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) leaves room for doubt. Anyway, the notion of family should again be at the heart of the story, in one camp as in the other, while the scenario is for the moment mysterious.
If the first film was inspired in particular by the fantastic comedies of the 80s, Big in mind, the second promises to be more epic and less light, if we trust its title which speaks of “wrath of the gods”. Dantesque clashes are therefore to be expected in a feature film which should make lightning speak and involve… dragons, if we are to believe the featurette unveiled as part of the DC FanDome in October 2021.