'Shazam: Fury of the Gods' Trailer Builds DC Superhero Magic, With a Dragon
Following Black Adam, return to the DC universe in March with Shazam 2.
The Shazam fam's next adventure got a fresh trailer on Thursday.
It's time to go back to the DC universe as the long-delayed superhero sequel Shazam: Fury of the Gods injects some fresh magic into its publicity campaign. The latest trailer for the new film came out Thursday.
The sequel, from Shazam director David F. Sandberg and screenwriter Henry Gayden, hits theaters March 17.
Shazam 2 is the follow-up to 2019's surprise smash, which introduced Zachary Levi as the titular superhero who's given godlike powers by an ancient wizard. Asher Angel plays his youthful alter-ego Billy Batson, and Jack Dylan Grazer is his chum Freddy Freeman. They're joined in the sequel by Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu as Hespera and Kalypso, villainous daughters of the Greek god Atlas. West Side Story breakout star Rachel Zegler plays a third sister.
"You are very menacing, I just want you to know that," Shazam tells Hespera in the new trailer. She responds to his patronizing comment in a classic supervillain manner -- by kicking him across the street.
We also see Shazam briefly trying to surrender his powers to stop the baddies, but it seems like that offer is turned down and he's forced to face his enemies and their dragon head on (presumably with the help of his superhero family).
The movie's first trailer dropped last summer, when it was scheduled for release last December. But rather than go head-to-head with Disney's box office juggernaut Avatar: The Way of Water, Warner Bros. decided to push Fury of the Gods to 2023.
Shazam (previously known as Captain Marvel in the comics, but DC changed that for obvious reasons) gains his powers from the same source as Black Adam, the antihero played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. A Johnson cameo in Fury of the Gods seemed certain, but became less likely after the actor revealed in December that DC won't be doing a Black Adam sequel or following up on its post-credits tease.
It's unclear if Fury of the Gods will follow up on the first movie's post-credits scene, which introduced super intelligent alien worm villain Mister Mind. Director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran were put in charge of DC Studios last October, and their roadmap for upcoming DC movies hasn't been revealed.
