Having won widespread critical acclaim and gone down a storm with audiences all over the world, David F. Sandberg’s sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now coming burdened with levels of hype and expectation that the first installment didn’t need to worry about.
Shooting has been ongoing since the end of May, and even though Zachary Levi’s return as the title hero isn’t coming to theaters until June 2023, production should be entering the final stretch. A great deal of filming has taken place on location, which is an increasingly rare occurrence for the superhero genre, and as a result set photos making their way online has become a regular feature.
The last batch revealed the surprising return of Djimon Honsou’s wizard, and as you can see below, new images show the two-time Academy Award nominated actor on set with Shazam! family members Grace Fulton, Jovan Armand and Ian Chen, indicating that he might have a much larger presence in the story than a simple cameo.
It was just as well Sandberg decided to post the first official look at Billy Batson’s family in costume on social media so that the surprise wouldn’t be spoiled by grainy snaps taken from a distance, because we’ve seen plenty of the cast members in action via unofficial methods, including Helen Mirren’s villainous Hespera.
Asher Angel says Shazam! Fury of the Gods will deliver everything you’d want from a superhero blockbuster, and given how the first film turned out, the heat is on to continue establishing the franchise as a core component of the DCEU’s roster that offers a light and frothy counterpoint to many of the franchise’s other marquee names.