Warning: The following article contains spoilers for ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods.’
While Shazam! Fury of the Gods was always going to be excluded from James Gunn and Peter Safran’s fresh big-picture plan for the newly-rebranded and revamped DC Universe, at the very least fans are wondering whether or not the film’s conclusion, or perhaps its post-credits scenes are going to be consequential to the future of the franchise.
David F. Sanberg’s Shazam! sequel starring Zachary Levi has two post-credits sequences, both of which don’t add a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, even if they were originally intended to do so prior to the leadership shakeup at DC Studios.
Nevertheless, let’s dig deep into exactly what unfolded on screen, and what it all means (or, in these unique circumstances, might have meant) for the future of live-action DC movies, starting with the mid-credits sequence.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods mid-credits scene
Amanda Waller’s cronies John Economos and Emilia Harcourt are wandering through a forest, with the former complaining about the walk, while the latter reminds him they’re there for a new recruit and are walking because they don’t want to spook him. That recruit is of course Billy Baston in Shazam form, who is here in the middle of nowhere shooting cans and bottles with his powers for a laugh.
Economos and Harcourt confront Billy, and ask whether he would be interested in joining a supergroup starting with the word “Justice.” Billy cuts them off and accepts immediately, thinking he is joining the Justice League and will be working side by side with his crush, Wonder Woman.
The pair corrects him, saying they are recruiting for the Justice Society of America. Billy begins scrutinizing their choice of name, saying it is confusing for there to be two teams with the word “Justice.” He then pulls out his phone and starts googling synonyms to the word, throwing in an Avengers joke in the process. Economos and Harcourt become exasperated and walk away.
In an alternate reality, this may well have been something of a tease leading to a showdown between Shazam and Black Adam, with Waller’s team making contact with both parties. Alas, as we know, this will not come to pass.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods post-credits scene
We see the interior of a prison cell, every inch of which is plastered with hieroglyphs and a small illustration of Shazam being killed. This is Dr. Thaddeus Sivana’s (Mark Strong’s) cell, who has been slowly going insane in the years following his defeat and capture. Mr. Mind once again appears in his cell, and Sivana starts scrutinizing the worm for taking so long to hatch his master plan. Mr. Mind reminds Sivana that he is a worm, and his plan is taking a long time because he is a worm and it takes him a while to get around.
Mr. Mind then remembers there’s something else he needs to do to continue setting his plan in motion, and starts inching away, to Sivana’s ire. Yes, this scene was absolutely inconsequential to pretty much anything involving the future of DC movies, particularly with James Gunn’s God and Monsters shake-up looming.