Shazam!

Shazam! is an American feature film of the family comedy and superhero fantasy genres. It is based on the character of Billy Batson, who is usually known as Captain Marvel, as seen in comic books published by DC Comics. This is the seventh installment in the DC Extended Universe film series, even though it is tonally different from its predecessors. The movie was directed by David F. Sandberg with a screenplay written by Henry Gayden based on a story treatment by Gayden and Darren Lemke. It stars Zachary Levi in the role of the multi-named featured hero, with Asher Angel playing his younger counterpart, Billy Batson. Co-starring in the movie is Mark Strong as the main antagonist, Doctor Thaddeus Sivana, with Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield, Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez, Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez, and Djimon Hounsou as the wizard Shazam. The movie premiered theatrically in the United States on April 5th, 2019.

Notes & Trivia

 * The tagline for this film is "Just say the word".


 * Shazam (2019) redirects to this page.


 * This is the seventh film in the DC Extended Universe film series and follows 2018's Aquaman.


 * Production on Shazam! began on January 29th, 2018. Principal shooting concluded on May 11th, 2018.
 * One of the original working titles for this movie was Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam!.


 * There are a total of seventy-five credited cast members in this film.


 * Shazam! received a television spot at Super Bowl LIII on February 3rd, 2019.


 * Shazam! grossed $67,825,000 on its opening night, including special screenings.


 * Upon its release, Shazam! had a meta-score of 71 on Metacritic.


 * Upon its release, Shazam! had a 91% approval rating on the movie review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, with a 90% approved audience score.


 * This is the first superhero movie whose title is named for a secondary character in the film rather than the main character or main ensemble cast.


 * The principal setting for this film is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Classically, the comic book versions of these characters resided in the fictional locale of Fawcett City. The school that Billy and Freddy attend in this movie is called Fawcett Central. The name is taken from Fawcett Comics, which published the original Captain Marvel line of comic books.


 * In the comics, Billy Batson's super-hero alter ego is named Captain Marvel. The name itself is co-owned by both DC Comics and Marvel Comics. The name is not used in the film because of the earlier Marvel Studios production, Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson.


 * In the comics, the wizard Shazam is a Caucasian. In the film he is played by a black actor.


 * The end-credit sequence is peppered with sketch illustrations of superhero Billy interacting with other characters from the DC Extended Universe including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Flash.


 * The talking caterpillar that appears in the mid-credit scene is Mister Mind. He is a Venusian mind worm with mental powers.


 * Traditionally, the character of Doctor Sivana is presented as a diminutive mad scientist who does not have super-powers.

Fun facts

 * Billy Batson's first line of dialogue in this movie is "Holy Moley". This is considered a trademark phrase of the character.


 * Billy Batson's biological father is identified as C.C. Batson in this film. The character is named for C.C. Beck, who is the creator of Captain Marvel and Shazam.


 * The doll from the Annabelle film series can be seen in the bottom left corner of the screen in the scene where the Philadelphia police officers enter the pawn shop. Producer Peter Safran worked on both Annabelle and its prequel film Annabelle: Creation, as well as Aquaman. Actress Grace Fulton played Carol in Annabelle: Creation. She plays Mary Bromfield in Shazam!"


 * Actor Djimon Hounsou appears in both this movie as well as Captain Marvel. In this movie, he plays the wizard Shazam. In Captain Marvel he plays Korath.


 * In this film, actor John Glover plays the CEO of a major company, who has a son who grows up to become a bald criminal mastermind. On the CW Network television series Smallville, John Glover played the CEO of a major company, who had a son who grew up to become a bald criminal mastermind.


 * Can you smelllllll-la-la-la-la-la what The Rock is producing? Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson serves as a producer on this movie. Johnson's name has been bandied about as a possible casting choice for Captain Marvel, and was then later in talks to play the villain Black Adam, either in this film, or in a potential sequel. Black Adam does not appear in this movie, though his existence is alluded to.


 * Prior to being a major motion picture, Shazam! was a live-action children's television series that aired on CBS from 1974 to 1977. Actors Jackson Bostwick, and later, John Davey played the role of Captain Marvel, with Michael Gray playing the role of teenager Billy Batson.


 * Superman makes a cameo appearance (from the chest down) at the very end of this film. Originally, Henry Cavill was rumored to play the role of Superman for this project, but had since parted company with the DC Extended Universe cast line-up.


 * In the comics, Freddy Freeman is actually older than Billy Batson while in mortal form.


 * There is a scene at the Rock of Eternity showing three crocodile men playing poker. These are known as Punkusians and are represented by the character of Herkimer. They are associated with Mister Mind and his Monster Society of Evil, which is alluded to in this film.


 * There are repeated images of tigers throughout the film. Three-year-old Billy Batson wants a tiger from the fair in a flashback scene. Teenage Billy has a tiger on his backpack. Later, superhero Billy comforts a scared girl at the carnival with a plush tiger. This is all a nod to a comic character named Tawky Tawny, who is a sentient, bipedal, talking tiger, who is friends with Captain Marvel and the extended Marvel Family.


 * The last time that Captain Marvel and Doctor Sivana made a live-action appearance was in the campy 1978 TV movie Legends of the Superheroes. Marvel was played by Garrett Craig and Sivana was played by Howard Morris.


 * Actor Mark Strong has appeared in several films based on comic books. He played Frank D'Amico in the 2010 adaptation of Kick-Ass. He played Sinestro in the 2011 version of Green Lantern. He played Merlin in Kingsman: The Secret Service in 2014.

Bonus scenes

 * Mid-credit scene: There is a mid-credit scene featureing Thaddeus Sivana in prison where he has been driven insane and is obsessively drawing symbols on the walls of his cell. The mysterious talking caterpillar, Mister Mind, begins speaking to him from a window sill.


 * End-credit scene: An after-credit scenes shows heroic Billy Batson talking to Freddy Freeman about the oddity of a superhero who can talk to fish, which is a reference to Aquaman. Freeman is wearing an Aquaman t-shirt in the film.

"My name is..."

 * The name Shazam is actually an acronym representing each of the six elders that Billy Batson draws power from.
 * Solomon
 * Hercules
 * Atlas
 * Zeus
 * Achilles
 * Mercury

Comic connections

 * Billy Batson, Captain Marvel, Thaddeus Sivana, and the wizard Shazam were created by writer Bill Parker and artist C.C. Beck. They first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 in February, 1940.


 * The character of Freddy Freeman, also known as Captain Marvel, Jr., was created by writer Ed Herron and artists C.C. Beck and Mac Raboy. He first appeared in Whiz Comics #25 in December, 1941.


 * The character of Mary Bromfield, also known as Mary Batson, also known as Mary Marvel, was created by writer Otto Binder and artist Marc Swayze. She first appeared in the first story in Captain Marvel Adventures #18 in December, 1942.


 * The character of Mister Mind was created by writer Otto Binder and artist C.C. Beck. He first appeared in the third story in Captain Marvel Adventures #22 in March, 1943.


 * The character of Darla Dudley was created by writer Geoff Johns and artist Andy Kubert. She was introduced in Flashpoint #1, but made her official "New 52" debut in Justice League, Volume 2 #8.


 * The character of Eugene Choi was created by writer Geoff Johns and artist Andy Kubert. He was introduced in Flashpoint #1, but made his official "New 52" debut in Justice League, Volume 2 #8.


 * The character of Pedro Peña was created by writer Geoff Johns and artist Andy Kubert. He was introduced in Flashpoint #1, but made his official "New 52" debut in Justice League, Volume 2 #8.

Recommendations

 * Aquaman
 * Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 * Justice League


 * Man of Steel
 * Suicide Squad
 * Wonder Woman