Let it be known that Shazam! is unlike any DC movie we’ve seen before.
For one, it’s headlined by Billy Batson, a young kid who becomes the unlikely successor to Shazam, an ancient wizard who’s harnessed the god-like abilities of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury. That brings a little levity to David F. Sandberg’s superhero spinoff, which was sorely missing from Warner’s other comic book movies, like Justice League and Batman V Superman.
So it’s fair to say that Shazam! heralds the dawn of a bold new era for the Worlds of DC, what with Aquaman and Wonder Woman 1984 also waiting in the wings.
At least according to Geoff Johns, though, Shazam! is practically in a league of its own when it comes to family-friendly fun.
I keep saying [Shazam!] is like if Roald Dahl created superheroes. It’s inspired by Phantom Tollbooth and Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter, like doing a real, fun, family-centered, emotional, magical character-driven story with these crazy characters that have no manual on what it is to be the Champions of Magic.
Johns spoke to CBR earlier this summer (h/t Heroic Hollywood), and the fact that he mentions Roald Dahl as a creative inspiration ought to give you a better sense of the tone and direction in which Shazam! is headed.
But Dahl isn’t the only source of inspiration…
The movie that we produced is really — and Henry Gayden did a great job on that script — it really takes a lot from what Gary Frank and I did on Shazam. So we put it in the movie, now the movie is feeding back into the comics. It’s all kind of feeding each other. It all lives in the same tonal place. And the kids that we introduced are in the movie too.
Shazam! graces theaters on April 5th, 2019, when Billy Batson and his superpowered alter-ego will be going up against the villainous Doctor Sivana, Mark Strong’s crooked genius who has devoted his entire life to harnessing the raw power of the Champions of Magic.
