# Shazam - spoilers after first **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108 "2019-04-05T22:57:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/21 "2019-04-10T15:50:25Z")
I thought it was decent. Of the new DC movies I’d rate it 3rd after Wonder Woman and Aquaman. I thought it took too long to get to the Shazam part (as it should for anyone that saw the damn trailer), and a lot of the humor fell flat for me. However, there were some gems in there too, like the bus scene. Him pulling out the disgusting mattress and the guy going “no, no” was hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/22 "2019-04-10T17:20:38Z")
The bus scene… I don’t know why this happens to me in superhero movies, but it always does. In a movie where a guy can fly, bullets bounce off his chest, he can shoot lightning from his hands (or heat from his eyes), _etcetera_ and so forth, the physics of falling objects (and normal people) always break my suspension of disbelief. I can’t help but grimace when that happens. It bothered me when Superman did it 41 years ago and bothers me still. Both Lois and Thaddeus should have been dead from their falls. Superman should have been holding a piece of the helicopters landing strut; there would be little difference between the bus striking Captain Marvel or the pavement. I can lose myself into every other aspect of these shows, but that’s what gets me. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/23 "2019-04-10T17:46:33Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > The bus scene… > > I don’t know why this happens to me in superhero movies, but it always does. In a movie where a guy can fly, bullets bounce off his chest, he can shoot lightning from his hands (or heat from his eyes), _etcetera_ and so forth, the physics of falling objects (and normal people) always break my suspension of disbelief. I can’t help but grimace when that happens. It bothered me when Superman did it 41 years ago and bothers me still. Both Lois and Thaddeus should have been dead from their falls. Superman should have been holding a piece of the helicopters landing strut; there would be little difference between the bus striking Captain Marvel or the pavement. I can lose myself into every other aspect of these shows, but that’s what gets me. I can mostly ignore the “Catching a falling person six feet before they hit the pavement means no injuries” thing. And I can mostly ignore the “Lifting a multi-ton vehicle with your bare hands doesn’t just tear the vehicle to bits,” thing. But that scene of Captain Marvel standing there, holding an entire bus over his head _by its windshield_ was too much for me. Especially when thirty seconds earlier, they’d made a point of showing that the window was cracking and about to fail. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/24 "2019-04-10T17:52:30Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > 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. I don’t think the number of thrones was meant to correlate to the number of people in the Marvel Family. Shazam was only ever looking to make one champion. Sharing the power out among his foster family was Billy’s idea. Shazam also said he was the last of a council of wizards, but I’m pretty sure he said there were originally thirteen of them. Maybe the other six wizards had to bring their own chairs. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/25 "2019-04-11T04:38:08Z")
If I remember right, Wizard Shazam told Billy, that Billy remembered right before he Shazamed the family, was that Billy needed to use his greatest power, his heart, and fill the thrones. Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/26 "2019-04-15T00:20:39Z")
Sooooooooo What was Sivana a doctor of? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/27 "2019-04-15T09:38:21Z")
Even better than I expected, with the mood shifts (between stuff like the boardroom scene on one hand and Billy learning about and goofing around with his new powers on the other) surprisingly smooth. My favorite bit of comic relief was when we see that super-hearing is evidently not one of Shazam’s powers, as Sivana delievers a Standard Supervillain Rant[tm] from dozens of yards away and Shazam can’t hear him over the traffic noise below and asks if he’s making “a big bad-guy speech”. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/28 "2019-04-15T16:58:11Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Sooooooooo > What was Sivana a doctor of? What is Captain Marvel a Captain of? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/29 "2019-04-15T17:20:16Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > 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. Do you really mean to be this aggressive? They’ve been Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family to me all the way up until last week, when I discovered that they had dropped “Marvel” in 2011. The last major story I read with this character was “Kingdom Come,” in which he was still known as Captain Marvel. Even the Wikipedia page is still “Captain Marvel (DC Comics)” and it begins with “Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam …” I’m comfortable with the Marvel name and I like it. I also liked the movie. Are you really willing to drive me out of threads for that? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/30 "2019-04-15T17:27:31Z")
I quite enjoyed this movie. My only regret is that I accidentally ended up in the 3-D show and the glasses made everything too dark. I wanted to get a close look at each of the seven deadlies, but I couldn’t really make them out. I was interested in how they visually portrayed each particular sin. Is there any place that has good images of each one? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/31 "2019-04-15T17:58:35Z")
That’s one of the things my son and I were talking about after watching it yesterday. The Seven Deadly Sins are distinctive looking but I had a hard time determining each during the movie. Gluttony was pretty obvious - he was the fat one with the mouth that opened up along his torso but was Sloth all that Slothful? I can’t remember seeing. Wrath seemed obvious but what was Lust? They were all the same colors and made the same smoke, so it was a bit confusing. But we enjoyed the movie in any case. I noticed Mr. Mind right off the bat while at the Rock of Eternity and the setup for Black Adam seemed obvious. There was a bit of a tonal shift that was jarring, mostly when Savanna gets to the boardroom, throws his brother out the window and then lets the Sins chomp down on everyone else. The working around his name was a little goofy but made for a great moment at the end when he says “Say my name” and the other kids all respond with “Billy!” ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/32 "2019-04-15T18:09:12Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > What is Captain Marvel a Captain of? 😉 The US Airforce. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/33 "2019-04-15T18:14:57Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > That’s one of the things my son and I were talking about after watching it yesterday. The Seven Deadly Sins are distinctive looking but I had a hard time determining each during the movie. Gluttony was pretty obvious - he was the fat one with the mouth that opened up along his torso but was Sloth all that Slothful? I can’t remember seeing. Wrath seemed obvious but what was Lust? They were all the same colors and made the same smoke, so it was a bit confusing. Greed had an extra pair of arms coming out his back, presumably for grabbing stuff it was greedy for. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/34 "2019-04-15T18:40:38Z")
I really like how many elements of the classic stories they got in Dr. Sivana, Mr. Mind, a hint of Black Adam, the Seven Deadlies, the Wizard Shazam, Freddie’s disability, Captain Marvel Jr.'s blue costume, Mary Marvel and the Lieutenants Marvel. And all the characters were really engaging and warm. All-in-all a very cozy setup. I knew I liked it when I found myself grinning broadly at Captain Marvel gleefully flossing. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/35 "2019-04-15T18:46:46Z")
And being as I just learned the term myself, this is “flossing” – [SHAZAM! DANCING THE FLOSS BACKPACK KID DANCE GREEN SCREEN | Feel Free to Use It For Your Memes - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCqeRQuOgUA) ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/36 "2019-04-16T04:55:17Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > The US Airforce. The _other_ Captain Marvel, Dr. Sivana’s arch-nemesis. If this is a deliberate mis-direct, I’ll have to bring up Captain Caveman… ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/37 "2020-01-27T17:12:24Z")
I wasn’t surprised that I enjoyed this, as it was very well-received when it came out last year. But I _was_ surprised by two things. While there was a good chunk of the movie that consisted of cheeky, irreverent superhero hijinks as I had expected, the opening reel of the film was surprisingly dark and ominous. And then there’s an early-middle section, before any actual superpowers come into play, that is just a straight up solid depiction of a very appealing and diverse foster family. I actually literally forgot for a few minutes that I wasn’t just watching a realistic drama. I would watch a show on HBO or Netflix or whatever that focused on that family with nothing supernatural involved. As is typical for the superhero genre, the movie does suffer from an overstuffed and overlong final battle sequence. If I could edit 10 or 15 minutes out of the final reel, it could easily make my top ten of 2019 instead of just missing it. Although it obviously would have been even better to just avoid unnecessarily spending so much money on battle sequence special effects to begin with! Do they really have audience research that shows it is necessary to make these so long? Or are they just engaged in an arms race and everyone is afraid to pull back? Because I really feel like even if you cut out 10 or 15 minutes like I said, it would still be plenty long enough. Postscript: After writing the above, I figured I would check the actual movie to see how that would all shake out. There’s a five minute battle with the villain, then a nine minute break, followed by a continuous 28 minute final battle before the coda. That’s just way too long! 15 minutes would be plenty. And that would bring the movie in under two hours. Although in the director’s commentary on deleted scenes, he pointed out that some of the scenes with the foster family were favorites of his but had to be cut for time. Put those back in instead! That’s a lot of complaining, I realize; but I did really like this movie. It’s just a shame to see a potentially better movie get brought down a peg by this kind of de rigueur Hollywood studio trope. Pretty much every film critic complains about this every time a superhero movie comes out. Now, sometimes the hoi polloi can genuinely be into stuff that critics find hokey or tiresome, and they are the ones who pay the bills. I just wonder if that’s actually true in this case. If no one ever dares to go shorter, how would we know? ---
**Author:** ![vislor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vislor/32/5933_2.png) [@vislor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vislor)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/38 "2020-01-27T18:20:25Z")
@SlackerInc - I agree about fights. With few exceptions, or if it’s the point of the movie, fights are too long. Endgame might have been okay as it had a lot of little fights in it but I think individual fights didn’t take long? I hope that’s correct as I can’t check it right now. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2020, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108/39 "2020-02-12T10:44:05Z")
> [@vislor](#): > > @SlackerInc - I agree about fights. With few exceptions, or if it’s the point of the movie, fights are too long. Endgame might have been okay as it had a lot of little fights in it but I think individual fights didn’t take long? I hope that’s correct as I can’t check it right now. There was a big one on the asteroid or whatever it was. But yeah, they managed to avoid the really generic structure of most of these. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shazam-spoilers-after-first/832108.md?page=1)