Shazam! (film)

Shazam! is a 2019 superhero comedy film in the DC Extended Universe, directed by David F. Sandberg and starring Asher Angel and Zachery Levi as Billy Batson/Shazam. It is based on the DC character of the same name.

It's Christmastime in Philadelphia. Billy Batson -- a fourteen-year-old orphan stuck in the foster child system, dedicated to finding his birth mother, from whom he was separated ten years earlier -- is brought to the extradimensional Rock of Eternity by an ancient wizard, who has chosen him to be a champion and the inheritor of his power. To gain the use of this power, Billy must speak the wizard's name -- Shazam. Doing so empowers him but also ends the wizard's life. Billy returns to earth with no guidance for his new powers, and does little of worth with them until he comes face-to-face with a Thaddeus Sivana, a rejected former candidate as the wizard's champion, who has allied himself with the embodied forces of evil once imprisoned at the Rock.

The film was financially and critically successful, with praise for the plot, humor and cast. It is set to have a spin-off entitled Black Adam released in 2022 and a sequel called  Shazam! Fury of the Gods to be released in 2023.


 * Big Bad: Doctor Sivana.
 * The Cameo: Dwayne Johnson appears briefly as a hologram of Teth-Adam, an earlier champion and the main character of the spin-off film Black Adam.
 * Averted with Superman, who was played by Zachary Levi's stunt double.
 * Cluster Bleep Bomb: A mall Santa was so excited that he swore about the Seven Deadly Sins.
 * Comically Missing the Point: Billy asked his family to say his name, but instead of saying "Shazam", they yelled "Billy" instead.
 * Continuity Cameo: Superman appears at the very end with Shazam and Freddy at school. Unfortunately, you don't see his face.
 * Denser and Wackier: The film is more cartoony than the previous DCEU films.
 * Lighter and Softer: The film is also funnier than other DCEU films.
 * Mythology Gag: The John Williams Superman theme was heard during Superman's cameo.
 * Power Perversion Potential: One of the first things Billy does as Shazam is enter a strip club... coming out with some buffalo chicken wings.
 * Say My Name: Billy has to say the wizard's name to change his form.
 * Shout-Out:
 * Freddy jokingly warns Billy that the foster home gets real Game of Thrones in here.
 * Shazam sings the opening riff of Eye of the Tiger with the lyrics "Lightning With My Hands".
 * The Stinger:
 * Dr. Sivana encounters Mister Mind at a prison cell.
 * Shazam tries communicating with fish like Aquaman.
 * Strip Club: One of the first things Billy does as Shazam is enter a strip club, coming out with some buffalo chicken wings..
 * Tempting Fate: Billy set up a card that reads "Don't scream" to Freddy. Freddy screamed upon seeing adult Billy.