David F. Sandberg, the director of Shazam!, says that the film is “very stand-alone” and a “self-contained” story within the DCEU.
The films in the DCEU seem to be moving in a slightly different direction of late, away from big team-ups and towards more self-contained stories that can be appreciated on their own merits.
This shift has also brought with it a lot of success, with the likes of Aquaman and Wonder Woman achieving big things at the box office. Shazam! is the next film to try this approach, with director David F. Sandberg explaining to ComicBook.com that his movie doesn’t rely on cameos from other heroes:
“Well this movie’s mostly just about introducing Billy Batson and Shazam and who he is, how he came to be. It takes place in this DC world where all these heroes exist, but in some ways it’s both sort of self contained while also being a part of something bigger, but, yeah. That’s a non-answer.
“It’s very standalone,” explains Sandberg.”You don’t have to have seen any of the other films, because it’s its own contained story. It is more the world of it that’s part of a story.”
SEE ALSO: Warner Bros. chief says DC Films “far less focused on a shared universe” after Aquaman success
Are you excited by this approach to Shazam? It will be interesting to see how fans respond to the film upon its release and if it can get anywhere close to the success of Aquaman.
We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Zachary 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 (Mark Strong).
Shazam will see Zachary Levi starring as the titular superhero, with Asher Angel as his young alter-ego Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Jovan Armand as Pedro Peña, Grace Fulton as Mary Marvel, Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Mark Strong as Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard, Adam Brody as Freddie Freeman, Ross Butler as Eugene Choi, D. J. Cotrona as Pedro Pena, Meagan Good as Darla Dudley, and Michelle Borth as Mary Bromfield. The film is set for release on April 5th 2019.
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