Shazam! Fury of the Gods brought the thunder to Hall H Saturday, with star Zachary Levi trotting out the first trailer from the film.
“I missed you guys so dang much, I can’t even tell you,” said Levi to an energized Hall H, taking in the first panel of the day, after a Shazam! sizzle reel showed.
During the panel, some plot details were revealed, including that there will be a time jump between the first movie and the sequel. The panel also teased villains Daughters of Atlas, led by franchise newcomer Helen Mirren. Fellow Shazam! newcomer Rachel Zegler is playing Antaeus with Lucy Liu playing Calypso.
“Zach, darling, sweetheart, I had such a marvelous time kicking the shit out of you,” Mirren quipped to Levi.
Shazam!, released in 2019, was a modest hit by superhero standards with $365.9 million, but was well-liked and praised for bringing a youthful energy to the genre. It told the story of a foster kid named Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who transformed into the hero Shazam (Levi). The final act featured Billy fighting alongside his foster siblings — who transformed into adult stars like him. This time around, there will be more screen time for the adult versions of Freddy Freeman (Adam Brody), Darla Dudley (Meagan Good), Eugene Choi (Ross Butler), Mary Bromfield (Grace Fulton), and Pedro Peña (D.J. Cotrona)
The panel also saw the debut of the new trailer for the superhero movie. Backed by Eminem’s “Business”, the trailer sees Shazam questioning his place as a superhero, lamenting, “I don’t deserve these powers, if I’m being honest.” The imposter syndrome continues as he crashes into buildings and cars, while comparing himself to the like of Batman and Aquaman.
But he is called to action when Mirren’s Hespera goes after him and his superpowered friends saying, “Children stole the powers of all the gods.” When confronted by Hespera, Shazam talks about his love of Fast & Furious movies (coincidentally, Mirren appears in that franchise, too) and calls upon his “family” who then spend the rest of the trailer fighting the big bads.
When asked during the panel about possible cameos, including by Superman, director David F. Sandberg and Levi played coy with Sandberg finally divulging: “That’s a spoiler. There’s a lot going on in the movie.”
The panel marked DC Films’s first trip to Hall H since 2018. The studio sat out 2019, the most recent Con due to covid shuttering it in 2020 and 2021.
Watch the trailer for Shazam! Fury of the Gods below.
