Shazam!Proved to be the surprising blast of energy that the DCEU needed during a dire time for the franchise. After the critical disappointments ofBatman v. Superman: Dawn of JusticeandSuicide Squad, Justice Leaguehad failed to create a superhero crossover event on the level of what Marvel Studios had accomplished withThe Avengers. The films were largely criticized for being too dreary, dark, and depressing. However,Shazam!Took a completely different approach to the material by showing what it was like for a child like Billy Batson (Asher Angel) to transform into a fully grown superhero (Zachary Levi). It was a refreshing take on the genre that proved superhero movies could still have heart and humor in equal measure.
While much of the success ofShazam!Can be credited to director David F. Sandberg, an equal amount of praise is due to Levi himself. Levi may have been an unusual choice to play a superhero at the time, as he did not have a built-in fan base like Ben Affleck or Jason Mamoa. However, Levi had proven that he could handle a science fiction action comedy franchise on his shoulders with the NBC seriesChuck, which wrapped after five seasons. Levi stars as the titular character Chuck Bartwoski, a computer nerd who accidentally downloads a database of classified covert information and works with the CIA on secret missions.Shazam!fans that enjoyed Levi’s performance as the DC superhero will definitely want to make watchingChucka priority.
Similar Mix of Heart and Humor
One of the reasons thatShazam!worked so well in comparison to the prior installments in the DCEU was seeing the world through the perspective of someone who could marvel at how cool everything was. Since Billy is still a child who has only seen superheroes on television, getting used to his powers gives him the chance to do a lot of silly things. Similarly, Chuck is granted with the knowledge of being a CIA agent under unusual circumstances; he’s gleeful when he gets to learn about the inner workings of the spy business with his handler and love interest Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski). When Chuck eventually gets special powers at the end of the second season, he shows a similar enthusiasm to using them to Billy’s first reaction to being turned into a superhero.
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However, bothShazam!andChuckknow that it’s best to be sincere at some points; while both stories contain a good amount of satire, the more intimate moments are devoid of irony. Billy struggles to cope with the mystery surrounding his mother, who he lost when he was young; as a result, he’s struggled to accept a new family, and constantly feels like an outsider. Chuck feels that his future was taken away from him after he was kicked out of college, and he can only confess his feelings of disappointment to his sister Ellie (Sarah Lancaster). These moments ground the adventures and show to audiences why they fell in love with Levi in the first place.
Pop Culture References and Self-Parody
Shazam!was a unique entry in the DCEU because it took place in the same universe as theZack Snyder films, but told its story from the perspective of a child. Billy’s best friend Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) is a massive comic book fan, and runs down the list of “superhero cliches” as he cites everything that he knows about Superman, Batman, The Flash, and Wonder Woman. This made the characters more inherently likable, as they showed a similar appreciation for the world that they were to the audience. It also allowedShazam!to poke fun at the genre itself; in the first film, Billy is unable to hero the villain Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong) gives his evil “bad guy speech” that most supervillains give because he is simply too far away.
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Similarly,Chuckcontains a lot of pop culture references to franchises likeStar Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Tron, Dune, Dungeons & Dragons,and Marvel Comics. Chuck and his best friend Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez) constantly compare their missions to the stories that they are fans of; once Chuck gains powers of his own, he makes many references toThe Matrixseries, and even delivers the iconic Neo line, “I know kung fu.” Chuck’s missions often get unusual, as he’s forced to go undercover as various high-ranking officials, criminals, foreign dignitaries, and assassins; his strange assignments lampoon what going “undercover” actually means for a spy, and how vastly different it is from how it’s portrayed in movies and television shows.
Untraditional Coming-of-Age Story
While having adolescent characters added humor to theShazam!series, it also allowed the films to tell a coming-of-age story. Billy has been seeking a family, but has trouble adjusting to his foster home with his new siblings Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman), Mary Bromfield (Grace Fulton), Eugene Choi (Ian Chen), Pedro Peña (Jovan Armand), and Freddy. While he’s now tasked with saving the world, Billy also has to learn about how to be a responsible brother and care for his new siblings. Over the course of his adventure, he matures, learning that he can’t do things on his own for the rest of his life and must find other people that he cares about. Pretending to be an adult actually prepares him to become one.The New York Timespraised the coming-of-age element of the film, stating that “the movie goes to its happy place and comfortably embraces its own identity as a light, jocular, modest entertainment.”
Similarly, Chuck goes through a rough period in his life when he doesn’t have a lot of goals. After being kicked out of school, Chuck works at the technology story Buy More and doesn’t consider moving on with his life. Over the course of his adventure, he learns how to move forward, let go of the past, and stop feeling bad for himself. The heartful character arc that Chuck goes through has drawn critical acclaim;What Culturepraised Chuck’s character arc, stating that “while the show undeniably got darker towards the end, he was still the same Chuck Bartowski at heart.”
