Has anyone else seen this? I thought it was decent.
Not as silly as I expected. Learning the super powers was fun, Billy had a nice growth arc as a hero (if a somewhat sudden acceptance of family at the climax).
Nice semi-cameo in the final cafeteria scene, tying the Captain into the DC universe (although they had already done that). I guess this means he at least makes it into a Darkseid movie (assuming there is one).
I knew I didn’t know squat about DC much beyond the big four, but I guess the inch-worm in the mid-credits scene is a known villain?
And I knew there was a Mary Marvel (although I expected her to just be a setup for a potential sequel) and possibly a Captain Marvel Junior, but are the other four existing characters? And does everyone have the same power set?
And finally - I counted six Marvels, but aren’t there seven chairs? Is someone missing?
Saw it last night, and really enjoyed it! I think they’ve finally figured out how to properly do “DC dark” in the movies - make the setting as grimdark as you want, but keep the darkness off the heroes. Sivana was a first-rate villain, and the bit where he meets his dad in the boardroom was surprisingly graphic. But Billy himself doesn’t do any of that bullshit, “Is it right to save people’s lives?” soul-searching that Superman was doing in Justice League.
The worm in the mid-credit scene is Mister Mind, who is specifically a Captain Marvel villain. Here’s his original look. Here’s how he’s been shown in DC comics lately.
The “Marvel Family” has been a staple of the property for ages. Freddy and Mary date back to the '40s. Billy’s other three foster siblings were more recent additions, from about ten years ago. They all have the same basic powerset as Billy, but each has a specialty - Darla is faster than the others, Pedro is stronger, and so forth.
I liked the movie for the most part, but “bodybuilder” type muscles really do not work for super heroes. They all looked fairly ridiculous.
The Foster mom is named Rosa Vasquez
The Foster dad is named Victor Vasquez
The Kids are:
Mary Bromfield
Darla Dudley
Eugene Choi
Pedro Pena
Freddy Freeman
Billy Batson
Come on, stop with this “Captain Marvel”/“Marvel Family” shit. Go start a dedicated thread about the old-timey comics and refer to them that way if you’re an old person and can’t stop living in the past. For THIS movie, in 2019, and all the Shazam! sequels to come, not one of the characters names has or ever will have the word “Marvel” in it.
I loved the movie btw. I’ve seen it twice already.
I loved it.
Better then Captain Marvel by a country mile.
I would have made one change. The rest of the foster kids knew Billy for, like a day and suddenly, they are like blood siblings.
It felt forced.
A better change would have been him already with the Vasquezs from the beginning. They literally did not need to domjuc bu5 change a bit of dialogue. Would have sold the sibling team vibe, which the young actors hit perfectly, better.
Is it okay if I call him “the Big Red Cheese?”
That showed me it was a good home and the kids were being raised right.
Mister Mind, the little worm (which also appeared in the first Rock of Eternity scene) is probably Captain Marvel’s second most known villain. I know I’m an old dude, but I prefer the pre-Geoff Johns Captain Marvel. I did like that a tiger was focused upon; assuming a sequel I hope they go there.
I would have liked a little more focus on the gods and heroes that make up Shazam, such as Shazam invoking the courage of Achilles to finally learn to stand up to Sivana. But they seemed to not want to emphasize that. Still worked overall.
He really didn’t show very much of the “Wisdom of Solomon”, although he started to make pretty good decisions near the end. They seemed to concentrate more on Hercules, Atlas, Zeus and Mercury. Not much courage of Achilles until the end.
I just saw it today, and yes the boardroom scene was pretty graphic, particularly when one of the monsters/sins bit the head off one of the suits. I think I saw a family leave right after that.
I liked it, and in an earlier thread mentioned that some elements reminded me of the Tom Hanks movie Big. So it was amusing when there was a brief reference to that movie (in the scene in the mall, Billy-as-Shazam crashed through a wall and landed on a floor keyboard like in the FAO Schwartz scene in Big).
I just saw it today, and yes the boardroom scene was pretty graphic, particularly when one of the monsters/sins bit the head off one of the suits. I think I saw a family leave right after that.
I liked it, and in an earlier thread mentioned that some elements reminded me of the Tom Hanks movie Big. So it was amusing when there was a brief reference to that movie (in the scene in the mall, Billy-as-Shazam crashed through a wall and landed on a floor keyboard like in the FAO Schwartz scene in Big).
BTW, did he ever settle on a superhero name? It seemed that he didn’t.
We saw it this afternoon. Very good. Makes up for that godawful Aquaman dreck. Looks like a sequel is planned.
Saw it yesterday and enjoyed it a lot!
Yes to what everyone says about the setting being grim-dark but not the heroes. Zachary Levi nailed it!
I liked that the rest of the Shazam family was there. Loved the cartoon drawings at the end, before mid credit scene, to also tie them into the DC world.
LOVED the guest at lunch! Perfectly handled, imo.
If I have a complaint about the movie, it’s that I saw just enough previews that a good number of fun scenes were known. Not all but enough that for me, when I recognized what was coming, I was a bit taken out of the moment. It’s a small nit for me and it’s why I avoid trailers as much as I can now beyond the first one.
If I have a complaint about myself, it’s that I read the comic with Zachary Levi on the front, and that told about two thirds of the story here. I will say that what they changed worked much better than the comic and I’m glad that they did make the changes. (It’s not a comic adaption of the movie, it’s actually a compilation of comics from about ten years ago that brought Shazam back into DC, I think New 52.)
Great discussion! Thanks!
A couple of questions.
How does it work if the superhero’s name is Shazam but that’s also the magic word that transforms him into Billy Batson and vice versa? If the superhero is talking to a news reporter and says, “My name is Shazam”, is the reporter now talking to Billy Batson? And doesn’t that make it difficult to hide his real identity?
The full cast listing in IMDB includes one actress playing “Sivana’s Twin Sisters - 12 Yrs Old” and another playing “Mrs. Sivana”. I only remember seeing Thad Sivana’s father (played by John Glover) and brother in the car at the beginning and later in the board room. So was there a deleted scene? If so, that’s probably something for the home video release.
Finally, when the foster siblings were transformed into superheroes, did each only have one power (super-strength, speed, lightning, etc)? And did “Shazam” retain all of them at the same time?
That’s why he does not actually go by Shazam.
This was a fun movie. I enjoyed it. A nice cross between Superman and Big.
One thing that wasn’t clear to me is if his siblings are permanently heroes too or was that just a one time thing?
Permanent, I’m pretty sure. Certainly, that’s how it is in the comics.
Rigth - its “All in the Shazamily”.
We enjoyed it - easily the most fun DC movie to date.
Billy’s use (or misuse, as it were) of the powers after he got them are exactly what I would expect a 15 year old boy to do.
“That was the first place you could think of?”
As Shazam (the ancient wizard) explained, his previous avatar went rogue and is still at large. He’s known as Black Adam and will apparently be played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the sequel. Originally the two post-credit scenes were going to have Cavill as Superman and Johnson as Black Adam recruiting Sivana.
Cavill still isn’t confirmed to continue the role so didn’t do the cameo. Johnson has the same agent as Cavill so he didn’t do a scene either, helping pressure the studio to keep Cavill.