Both the 2019 movie and the 2023 sequel for “Shazam!” were recently added to the lineup on Netflix.
These can be described as “adventure comedies”, and were filled with a lot of light-hearted humor. There were three things that I think make these movies work.
First, the protagonist is an adolescent, between the ages of 15 and 18. This created a lot of opportunity for humor, as he went from having a young person’s body to having the body of a grown man. For those who don’t know, the protagonist was given his super-powers by a wizard. Whenever he says “Shazam!”, he goes from his normal form to the form of a superhero with a lightning bolt. (Similar to “He-Man”) Saying “Shazam!” again turns him back into a teenager.
His superpowers are somewhat equivalent to those of Superman. However, he does not know what powers he has in the first movie, and he and his foster-brother go through a rather amusing series of misadventures to discover what his powers are. He also doesn’t learn how to fly until pretty late in the first movie, which creates more comedic situations.
Since they are teenagers, he and his foster brother create a YouTube channel to document the discovery of his powers. Also, since they are just kids, the protagonist starts doing sidewalk demonstrations of his powers for tips, like a street musician or performer might do. With some of that money, he and his foster-brother go buy beer. They both take a swig, and spit it out, declaring that the beer tastes like vomit. (This made me laugh a good bit.)
Another good feature of the movie was its fantasy element. Unlike most superheroes, the protagonist obtains his power through magic, rather than science fiction. I found the spells, gods, and mythology more interesting, and I thought that it opened up a lot of possibilities, in terms of what stories can be told.
Finally, I enjoyed the references to other, better-known, superheroes in the movies. During both movies, there are references to other heroes in the DC Comics label, such as Batman and Superman. The characters in Shazam! look up to these other superheroes, and try to model themselves on them, but often fall short of the mark because they are children. This creates a lot of good humor. There are also some fairly “inside” jokes. For instance, the protagonist can never settle on a name for his super-alter-ego, which is a reference to the fact that this character has been called different things in the comics, partly due to trademark disputes. At one point, the comic book character was called “Captain Marvel”, but this was changed due to an IP dispute between DC and Marvel Comics.
The protagonist from the Shazam! movies makes a good addition to the other DC movies because he is more like a member of the audience, who is suddenly getting to live the life of his heroes, and has the sort of energy and enthusiasm you’d expect from a child who suddenly found himself having super-powers. I think the character would make an excellent comedic foil or sidekick to one of the more “serious” superheroes, or perhaps he could be worked into one of the Justice League movies. I recommend that you check out Shazam!.
