After the positive reviews and reception of the first SHAZAM! movie (not stellar, but positive), we now have the sequel. We still don't see Black Adam in it (Dwayne Johnson is such a big star and the character is so popular in the comics that they decided to give them a stand-alone origin picture before putting him in the same movie with the SHAZAM! family), but instead we have a couple of highly regarded actresses (Hellen Mirren and Lucy Liu) playing ancient gods, a theme of "family" so self-aware that the Fast And Furious movie franchise is even mentioned in the first trailer (with a funny pay-off), the return of the Old Wizard, but in apparently a more "down-to-earth" role, some powerful magic people who might be allies or villains, a dragon, meta-recognition of the Shazam-Flash costume similarities (thanks, Carmine Infantino), super-feats, and some self-doubt and insecurity from the titular hero.
It looks fun, it looks funny, and it could be very exciting. It is always hard to tell with trailers. It could go too far into the comedy, but the original Captain Marvel was never meant to be all dead serious and stuff. The action clips are very short, so we can;t tell how much there will actually be. The progression from insecure hero to fighting evil with the family is not presented at all, so we can only hope that it is a convincing Campbellian hero's journey.
But let's not forget that this is only the first trailer, designed to get the "sizzle" out. We will have to wait for the movie to get the steak.
There is no hint of Dr. Sivana or Mr. Mind (the work from the post-credit scene from the first movie), no emphasis on the tiger motif that was all over the first film (though the cabochons holding his cape still have the tiger face on them), and we only see one shot of the foster parents, but at least we do see all the kids both in and out of their heroic personas.
As a fan and scholar of all characters who have been, are, or will be named Captain Marvel, I am looking forward to this movie and hoping that I am entertained as much as I was by the first one. Though I don't feel the jump=out-of-my-seat thrill I would have liked, there is enough potential between the lines here for me to be positive about it.
IF I have time, I will post up some of the myriad of "reaction videos" that are already out there.
So MovieAccessTrailers seems to like to put together videos of "coming attractions," book-ended by recent trailers. This is great because it gives us the opportunity to see a whole bunch of footage of the movies in one convenient video. So without further ado, here is the one for DC's upcoming "SHAZAM!" movie:
In it we see Sivana shooting lightning from his fingers, money flying out of an ATM into the hands of the hero and Freddy Freeman, a new member of the "Shazam Kids," and repeated viewings of what is possibly the coolest shot in any Superhero movie, Billy Batson jumping off a building, saying the word, and, in a flash of lightning, transforming into the hero.
Here is the one for Marvel's "Captain Marvel" movie:
The heading is a bit misleading. We don't see any Minerva-Ronan fight, What we do get is Annette Benning as a maternal figure, a brief look at Korath with laser wings, more Brie Larsen/Samuel L. Jackson banter, a Jude Law/Brie Larsen fight/training sequence, some air force buddy-banter between Lashana Lynch (Monica Rambeau's mom) and Brie Larsen, and footage of Brie Larsen jumping on a train and crashing a plane.
I am going to update this post with some analysis later.
One quick break in the "Blog History of All the Captain Marvels" to share the news that Warners/DC has released a NEW SYNOPSIS for their upcoming SHAZAM! movie, featuring a hero based on the original Captain Marvel.
As reported by Heroic Hollywood (and I don't have time to do another Clickbait Roundup on it), this is the text of the new synopsis:
“We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to
bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one
word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the
adult Super Hero Shazam (Zachary Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard
(Djimon Hounsou). Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike
body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any
teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he
have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip
his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his
abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to
master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil
controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).”
The differences between this and the previous version of the synopsis are few. They have added the phrace "...a ripped, godlike body...", stated that he is "having fun" with his new powers, and estabished that he is facing the challenge of "master(ing) these powers" so he can "fight the deadly forces of evil."
None of these are unexpected details of a superhero film, they seem more like simple expansions of the concepts expressed in the previous synopsis and are hinted at in the trailer. But there is one detail that makes official something everyone already knew except for those people unfamiliar with he character: Dr. Sivana will be the villain!
Those of us who have been following the production have known Dr. Sivana, described in the original comics as "The World's Wickedest Scientist" and self-described "Rightful Ruler of the Universe," would be involved. Mark Strong has been cast in the role, on-set photos revealed him working with Zachary Levy (the hero), and there is a shot in the trailer of him catching the hero's fist and his eyes glowing.
In the original comics, Sivana was short and ugly. He was physically no match for the original Captain Marvel, and used science and chicanery to try to find ways to outwit, out-position, and overcome the hero's opposition to him taking his place as Ruler of the Universe. But somehow the Big Red Cheese was always able to overcome these challenges and obstacles, often because Sivana forgot one little detail that left him vulnerable. Such a character could have been brilliantly played by Armin Shimmerman.
But this version of the hero is based on the New 52 version. For those who may not know, the "New 52" was a 2011 complete re-vamp and re-boot of the entire line of DC Comics. The character who had been known as Captain Marvel ever since he was created for Fawcett Publications in 1939, and had been re-vamped and re-booted at least three times by DC from the 1980's to the 2000's, was put through his most drastic reimagining ever.
As regular readers of this blog should know by now, for trademark reasons, DC could not put the hero's name on the cover of the comic instead deciding to use his transformative magic word, "SHAZAM!" (all caps, with the exclamation point) as the title of the comic and the trademark for merchandising. This confused enough people that for the New 52, the name of the hero to be marketed under that title and trademark would match that title and trademark.
With this change of name also came a change in costume, power set, origin story, and living situation. It also came with a change in the arch enemy.
Dr. Sivana, in the New 52, is a tall, handsome, wealthy man obsessed with finding the secret of magic. He finds the tomb of the ancient wizard Shazam and absorbs the ability to "see magic," as well as use it. It also, eventually started eating away at his body, and he was last seen becoming smaller and uglier, perhaps eventually turning in into the short, ugly character of the original comics.
Mark Strong is a perfect physical type and has a body of work that indicates that he would be a very good choice for this new interpretation of the villain. On top of the increased height and charisma of this new version, the movie is also giving him a degree of physical ability that the comics did not (this is presumably because in the comics Black Adam served as a co-villain to go toe-to-toe with the hero, but that character, announced to be played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, will be making his debut in another film) which is also well within Mark Strong's wheelhouse.
So, to sum up: The specificities added to this new synopsis pretty much confirm what was already known or obvious, and those who were hoping for a movie about the original Captain Marvel will have to be satisfied with a re-imagined character loosly based on him.
Sort of like the upcoming Robin Hood, but that is an essay for another time.
Please post your comments below, and subscribe to this blog for history and insight on all things involving ALL Captain Marvels!
HERE IT IS! Of the two movies based on Captain MArvel properties scheduled to come out next year, DC is the first one with an actual trailer!
This is not completely surprising, being as their movie wrapped shooting faster and earlier,I expect the plot to be simpler, and it certainly has fewer tie-ins with other movies from its studio.
Here it is, as it was shown at San Diego Comic Con:
So here we can see Asher Angel as Billy Batson finding his new foster home, Jack Dylan Grazer as his new foster-brother, Freddy, Mark Strong as Sivana, the super-powered (!) villain, at least one transformation into Zachary Levy as the hero, and a silhouetted Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard.
Now, of course, there were bunches of "reaction" and "explanation" videos posted immediately, as YouTube's "clickbait" dynamic was activated. Here are some of them:
...and here some folks even did "mashups" of a bunch of them!
I don't have time to watch and comment on all of them now, but I am keeping them here as a repository so that you and I can view them at our leisure later, especially after the movie comes out, and we can judge how right or wrong these reactions turned out to be!
If you have a reaction to this trailer, either in video or text, please post it in the "comments" section, share this post, and subscribe to the Captain Marvel Culture blog!
Well, the production has wrapped, and no doubt the various editors and special effects people are working their little tails off trying to make the new "SHAZAM!" movie as awesome as possible, and of course the PR department is working every bit as hard to make everyone THINK that it is as awesome as possible.
So we got these pictures so far...
...which are essentially confirming what has been said about what this movie will be since the beginning: "Big" with superheroes (though there was one article that did not catch the "Big" was a movie title and presented the quotation as "...it's big with superheroes.").
Sidenote: The director, David F. Sandberg, used Instagram to post cryptic pictures allegedly symbolizing the progress of his Journey as he researched and planned for the making of this movie. I wonder if the Coke cans in these pictures (below) had anything to to with the above scene?
As a further sidenote, I must have missed this particular picture on Sandberg's Instagram. I was watching them the bet that I could, and was very heartened by the presence of Fawcett publications and action figures of the classic Captain Marvel. It made me think that maybe this movie would be about the original Captain Marvel, and not this New 52 character named "Shazam." Had I seen the picture above, I would have known those hopes were futile.
In any event, that oft-repeated line, "'Big' with superheroes," kept on hitting me. The original Captain MArvel,. of which I am a fan, was not a boy in a grown-up's body, but ever since Roy Thomas created "SHAZAM! A New Beginning" after the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in 1986, that has been the dominant interpretation of the hero. Sometimes it has led to some interesting dramatic story twists and turns, like in DC's "Underworld Unleashed" miniseries, "JSA" series from the 1990's, and "Young Justice" animated series.
But all too often it has been played for goofy humor, starting with Keith Giffen's and Kevin McGuire's post-"Crisis" "Justice League."
So now. apparently, someone showed some preview footage of the new movie in Ukraine, and thanks to the magic of the Internet (through which Asher Angel, who plays Billy Batson shared it), we can see it!
So that's why they have been harping on that early Tom Hanks movie! So that when people saw this scene they would get the pop-culture reference!
But I really think that is a cheap joke. Aside from the fact that F.A.O. Schwartz, the world-famous toy store tin which the original scene took place, is not there any more, I will positively cringe if I have to watch the Zachary Levy as the hero dancing on a floor piano in a toy store!
I was ready to accept that this character had a different name from the original hero. He was different enough that it was better that he not be named "Captain Marvel." But now...I just don't know if I can take it.
So we see the Cola scene, some characters flying through the air as if hurled by the Force, and Mark Strong as Sivana catching the hero's punch. We also see flashes of the original New 52 story that introduced this character.
This all confirms that this is an adaptation of the New 52 story, with Sivana's role enlarged to make up for the lack of Black Adam. It's all too brief to tell for sure how good it will look in its final form., andin the end, this film willbe judged on its execution.
Hurry up and watch these clips, because Asher says he will be taking them down soon!
So what do you think of these clips? Post your impressions below and subscribe to this blog for the most insightful updates on the many different Captain Marvels!
Well, it's in the can, and now it is up to the editors to put it together and the PR people to get people to go see it!
That's right, a few weeks ago it was announced the the filming of the new DC movie "SHAZAM!" based on the New 52 character who is a re-interpretation of the original Captain Marvel, was wrapped, the first promo pictures have been released, and the director has even started making his own spoofs.
Of course, this is all in keeping with the expectations and statements that this is going to be a "lighter" movie than those in the latest wave of DC superhero movies.
I may write something more insightful later, but this is a very busy week for me!
Hi Friends. I am sitting on a Greyhound but to the Armored Combat League's New World Cup, where I am going to be doing the play-by-play of the live streamcast, and I forgot to bring my laptop charger, so I am going to have to make this brief.
The role of the hero of the "Shazam!" movie has been cast, and it is someone who shares my initials: Zachary Levy!
Zachary Levy starred as a reluctant secret agent in the successful TV series "Chuck" (of which I had a T-shirt that I got at San Diego Comic Con years ago. Wish I still had it. It has just gone up in value in my esteem) and played Fandral the Dashing in the "Thor" movies. He was also in such movies as TV shows at "Heroes Reborn," "Tangled," and "Alvin and the Chipmunks." He's got the eyebrows and the smile, but is going to have to go on a Christopher Reeve-style bodybuilding program to match the traditional build of the World's Mightiest Mortal.
You will notice I did not call the hero "Captain Marvel" right of the bat. There is still some confusion and ambiguity as to whether that will be the hero's name in the movie. Most of director David F. Sandberg's Instagram lg of his production process has shown the traditional Fawcett-DC version of Captain Marvel, but one New 52 "Shazam" action figure did show up. The clickbait press has been reporting that the "Seven Deadly Sins" may be a villain and that characters that may be the adoptive family of Billy Batson in the New 52 have been showing up in casting notices.
Since Marvel Comics/Disney owns the trademark "Captain Marvel," DC/Warners cannot use that name in the title or on the poster. They can, however, call the original Captain Marvel by his name in the scrip and on the comic book page. It is my contention that the New 52 character is a separate character from the original Captain Marvel or any other versions of him that DC has produced (see my video "Captain Marvel History" for an explanation). It has been established that there is a "multiverse" in DC, and that on Earth-5 exists the original.
I did talk with Dan Didio at NY Comic Con about this briefly, and I will be making a video with his answer to the question soon. It may shock some people!
Lots of websites seem to be using the New 52 version interchangeably with the classic version, and the description of the character in every one of these newsposts I have seen describe the character generically enough that it sounds like the original, but might not be incorrect if applied to the New 52 version.
But until I see a piece of footage or read a bit of script in which the hero is named, I will continue to be ambiguous and hold out for the classic version of the Big Red Cheese.
And now, the traditional "clickbait roundup" of the story:
It all started here: Variety
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