Shazam is the DCEU film that many feel will revitalize the comic giant’s cinematic universe.
Or should we say Worlds of DC?
Gotta love a revamp, and we know how much DC loves to reset their universe in general.
Shazam’s trailer promised to give audiences a completely different experience than the
previous Synder era films have presented, and a lot of fans are really excited to see
that shift in tone happen.
So in celebration of the upcoming film, we’ve put together a list of our picks of the top
10 Shazam fan theories, all of which try to shine a better light on what exactly the film’s
narrative will entail, and what it may mean on a grander scale for the DCEU as a whole.
Let’s jump in!
10 Black Adam When news that a Shazam film was on the horizon
came out, many believed that that meant we’d finally be seeing Dwayne the Rock Johnson
in the role of Black Adam; a character the actor and former WWE superstar has been attached
to since 2014.
But here’s the thing; The Rock recently revealed that he’s not appearing in the
film, which has spawned a whole lot of theories as to why that’s the case.
Many believe that similar to the whole ‘leave the Joker out of the first Batman movie’
idea, Shazam may be saving Black Adam for it’s sequel, since this film is meant to
be more of an origin story and coming of age.
It’s a trend that’s fairly popular these days with comic book films, despite it not
necessarily following suit with some of the movies in the DCEU or Worlds of DC (whatever
you want to call it).
Hell, look at the MCU; Norman Osborn didn’t show up in Spider-Man, and likely won’t
in it’s sequel either.
That being said, fans still believe that Black Adam will have a presence in the film, but
not in the way we all had hoped.
This theory suggests that Black Adam will be strongly hinted to at the end of the film
as a way of foreshadowing, or that we’ll get an obstructed glimpse of the character
in a post credit scene.
Hence why Johnson isn’t appearing in the film.
9 Justice League recruitment This one feels a little obvious, to be honest.
This theory speculates that Shazam will be recruited into the Justice League at the end
of his film, either as part of the narrative or within a post credit scene.
Currently, in the DCEU, the Justice League only has 6 members, whereas in the comics
it generally operates at 7 at all times.
Considering Shazam is the next biggest hero in the DCEU to be revealed, or worlds of DC,
whatever you wanna call it, it would make sense that he’d get an offer.
Even if that isn’t the case, it’s safe to say that we’ll likely see something linking
the character to the grander Justice League story by the end of the film.
Perhaps a post credit scene 8 Darkseid Reveal
There’s been easter eggs and hints that Darkseid will be arriving to the Worlds of
DC fairly soon.
Hell, Steppenwolf explicitly referred to him in the Justice League film.
So it makes sense that we’ll get some sort of hint to the villain in the upcoming shazam
film.
We haven’t gotten a glimpse of the villain yet, but this theory suggest that DC will
be taking a page out of Marvel’s books and including some sort of larger hint to him,
whether that be within the film, or, more likely, a credits scene.
While we believe that there will likely be an easter egg or a really subtle hint placed
within the film, those in support of this theory think that Shazam will help set up
Darkseid’s arrival, all thanks to him be introduced as a member of the Justice League.
Darkseid will see that the team is growing, and begin to prepare an attack on Earth.
In addition to that, some other Darksied news – back in November of last year, Zack Synder
released an image on Vero that gave us a better look at Darkseid, except on an ancient tablet
that contained what looks a whole lot like a mother box at it’s center.
7 A Different Costume News recently broke that the Shazam costume
costs quite a pretty penny.
According to reports, each of Shazam’s suits cost just over a million dollars to make,
and there are ten of them in total.
So yeah, that’s a lot of money.
Director David F Sandberg responded to the reports, and the fan reaction to it, by noting
that it isn’t just the physical suit that costs money; it’s also what goes into it,
all of the different versions of the suit that were made, and the cost of labour in
making them and camera testing them.
And then they’ve gotta be tested to see whether they’re suitable for stunts.
But regardless of whether or not you think the suits cost too much, there is a particular
rumour about Shazam’s suit that spawned from the criticism that some fans had when
it was revealed.
The suit, which is pretty close aesthetically in detail when it comes to the comics, was
criticized for feeling to campy compared to the likes of the other suits we’ve seen
in the DCEU.
And with a price tag like the one we mentioned earlier, some fans are speculating that there’s
another version of the suit out there that makes up some of those ten suits in total.
The reason this theory has caught on is because of the kinds of suits that currently exist
in the DCEU; many of them feel like a slightly more modern take on the classic outfits of
our favourite heroes, so perhaps towards the end of the film, Billy Batson may be more
inclined to adopt a new suit once he’s gone through all of that coming of age that’s
supposed to go down in the film’s narrative, growing up into a more mature costume.
6 Superman in Shazam One of the biggest theories about the Shazam
film is that we’ll be seeing a cameo from one of the DC universe’s mega stars; Superman!
Superman and Shazam have quite the history in the comics, with often Shazam being the
one who loses when the two clash and get into a battler against one another.
Which is kind of a shame, considering the scope of what shazam’s powers can do.
Ya just can’t beat superman, friends.
Anywho, there’s been a handful of Superman themed items and easter eggs that have been
spotted in the film’s trailer and in released stills, and some fans believe that Supes will
make an appearance as either a point of inspiration and guidance to Billy, or to formally invite
him to become a member of the Justice League, with the man of steel recruiting help in order
to prepare for the battle against Darkseid.
Either way, it’s a cameo that would make a lot of sense.
5 Billy Batson has met Superman If you’ve seen Justice League, you may remember
a scene early on in the film in which we got a cell phone camera POV of Superman, with
a boy behind the camera interviewing him.
This theory suggests that the boy who was doing that was actually Billy Batson, and
that the DCEU will be playing with the idea that Billy has always looked up to Superman
as a hero.
How does this play a role in the Shazam film though?
There’s speculation that the film will tie Superman into it by showing the other side
of that scene, except focusing on Billy filming the superhero rather than seeing the phone
camera perspective.
4 Doctor Sivana’s Henchmen In the comics, while Doctor Sivana has proven
to be a worthy foe for Billy, the character is not a brawler; rather, he uses his genius
level intellect to take on the big red cheese.
He normally wouldn’t have the strength or physical abilities to really challenge Shazam,
but he manages to do so in the trailer for the film that’s been released.
So this theory suggests that perhaps Sivana is the one pulling the strings in the film,
but that there will be another villain that will end up fighting against Shazam, carrying
out Sivana’s dirty work.
Sivana may be able to hold Billy off for a short amount of time, but in order to execute
his schemes he needs someone who has a bit of spring in their step, or rather, magic
and superpowers.
This isn’t entirely unheard of in the DCEU either; Wonder Woman’s Doctor Poison and
Lex Luthor were both characters of great importance when it came to being an antagonistic force,
but there was always a great more super-powered force that balanced out their evil genius
threat in the film as a whole.
Another part of this theory suggests that one of the other members of the Fearsome Five
will make an appearance in order to help Sivana out.
3 Seven Deadly Sins Jumping off of our previous number, this theory
suggests that the true villain of the Shazam film is actually the Seven Deadly Sins.
In the trailer, we can see the statues that represent the seven deadly sins, which play
a significant role in the lore of Shazam.
In the comics, these are powerful demons who can assume control of an individual’s body.
The Wizard shazam had previously defeated them, but perhaps they’ve escaped their
captivity (something not unheard of in the comics) and this will be the true antagonist
force that Shazam will have to defeat.
Perhaps Sivana is attempting to release them, hence why he’s got these additional powers
of his.
2 Sivana’s Secret There’s another theory concerning Sivana
that’s equally as intriguing.
This one, which comes out of the website the Nerdist, suggests that the reason why Sivana
can hold his own against Shazam as shown briefly in the trailer is because he’s actually
syphoning power from Black Adam.
He’s drawing physical enhancements somehow from the character, making him more of a threat
to Billy.
This would help establish Black Adam in the universe, and open the door for the rumoured
solo feature film the character is reported to have in the works, along with setting him
up to be Shazam’s arch nemesis.
1 Sivana will become Black Adam Our final theory takes our last number one
step further.
It suggests that Sivana will actually become Black Adam.
In the teaser trailer, there’s a shot that comes right after the booming line “Billy
Batson I choose you!”
A young boy steps out of the shadows of the tunnel and into the rock of eternity.
But take a closer look at that boy.
He’s not Asher Angel’s Billy Batson; he’s wearing completely different clothes, and
even has a different stature, arguably younger than Billy, with clothes that may actually
suggest a earlier period in time.
This has led some to believe that this boy is actually Sivana when he was young, meeting
the Wizard, and getting his powers.
In the comics, Black Adam was rejected by the Wizard when the latter deemed him to be
too easily corrupted by magic.
Sivana has depicted that he’s got powers, and perhaps these have seeped through to him
as an adult due to some sort of experimentation he’s conducted, because he doesn’t want
to transform into Black Adam for whatever reason.
So, what do you all think?
Whose the boy in that shot?
Let us know in those comments below!
There we have it friends!
What has you the most excited for the Shazam film?
Or do you think it’s not gonna be all that great?
Regardless of your thoughts, if you’ve got a theory of your own, be sure to let us know
about it down below!
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