WB are extremely happy with the way Shazam! is performing at the theatres. It has already been a critical success and now it is proving to be a great commercial success as well. If things go right, it just may end up making around $500-$600 Million worldwide, and with a production budget of just $100 Million, WB will welcome that with both arms wide open. That is why they’ve already greenlit a sequel.
Shazam! is probably one of the best comic-inspired movies since it references so many moments directly from the comics. There are obviously a few changes here and there, but which Superhero movie doesn’t do that these days. What was really amazing about it is that it didn’t shy away with the fact that it is a part of an already established DC Universe like Aquaman somewhat did. There were so many Easter Eggs to the DCEU and the DC Comics Universe that you’d probably lose count.
While heroes like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman were directly referenced, there were some other DC characters that had hidden references. For instance, consider the example of Black Adam. He was nowhere to be found in the film, but a major reference to him came when the Wizard Shazam was telling Billy the mistake that the Council of Wizards made when they chose their Champion in the past. That Champion was none other than Teth Adam, aka Black Adam.
Another big reference came for Tawny Tawny, the talking Tiger. In the flashback sequence when Billy the 3-year-old kid was in a fair with his mother, he was asking for a toy Tiger. Later in the film, we see Shazam pass on a Stuffed Tiger Toy to a kid who was hiding in the booth from the Seven Deadly Sins. Now, Tawny wasn’t in the film, but these references could either lead the way for his arrival, or just work as mere Easter Eggs themselves.
Many would argue that these Easter Eggs were all of the individuals somehow related to Shazam!. Since this was a movie that touched magic in the DCEU, we cannot cast out the fact that there were other mystical attributes that were also teased. One hero who actually relies upon Magic was teased in a “blink and you’ll miss” moment.
In a sequence taking place in the Rock of Eternity, an immensely powerful magical artifact that pops up on the screen is something that you call an Ibistick. For those not aware, it is a wand which is used by Ibis, and it glows in the presence of Evil. It is an unstoppable force when wielded for good. Now the funny thing is that the Ibistick also showed up in DC’s live-action series, Constantine. So, WB could actually expand and bring in a mystical world of DC on the big screen. John Constantine’s arrival could actually lead us to Justice League Dark as well. But that’s a thing far away in the future.
For now, just go enjoy Shazam! which is currently playing in the theatres. Here’s the official Synopsis of Shazam!:
“We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. 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 (Strong).”
