Amid the grit ‘n’ gloom of Zack Snyder’s DCEU movies, 2019’s Shazam! came as a breath of fresh air due to its all-ages appeal.
Pitched as a comic book twist on Big, the movie starred Asher Angel as troubled teen Billy Batson, who transforms into an adult superhero, as played by Zachary Levi. While it’ll hopefully sport a similar goofy charm, we’re now hearing that upcoming sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods will be a little more “adult” than its predecessor.
With production on the follow-up wrapping last year, DC producer Peter Safran touched on what we can expect tonally from Shazam! 2 while speaking to IGN. Due to the young cast getting older, Fury of the Gods will apparently feature more “adult humor” and some mature stakes.
“I love what we’ve done with it. I like that the kids are a little bit older so that you can lean into a little more adult humor and also just adult stakes and adult issues that one deals with it at 16 and 17 that you don’t deal with at 13 and 14.”
We also know to expect more of the Shazam family in action this time around. After Billy shared his power with his adoptive siblings in the first film’s third act, they’ll be a fully fledged superhero team in the sequel, complete with revamped costumes.
Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody are back as Freddie, young and old, along with Faithe Herman/Meagan Good (Darla), Ian Chen/Ross Butler (Eugene), and Jovan Armand/D.J. Cotrona (Pedro). Grace Fulton is portraying Mary full-time in this film, with Michelle Borth not returning as her superhero form.
Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu are on board as the villains of the piece — Hespera and Kalypso, the daughters of Greek God Atlas. Rachel Zegler is also in a key supporting role as an unknown character. Recent rumors have pointed to Gal Gadot turning up as Wonder Woman, which would make up for the original failing to land Henry Cavill’s Superman.
Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a long while before Shazam! Fury of the Gods gets here. It’s not due to open in theaters until over a year’s time in Feb. 2023.