Shazam 2! Fury of the Gods (2023)

So have we settled on a tone for the DCEU?

Following last year’s Peacemaker, recent previews for The Flash, and now the sequel to Shazam!, on top of the fact that James Gunn is reportedly “in charge” of this Cinematic Universe project by now, it seems we’ve basically abandoned the idea of grimdark Superman, the pretenses of maturity, and whatever other cringe characterized the ever-hashtagged “Snyderverse” that every permavirgin on the Internet thinks can still happen because they managed to crowdfund the completion of a hitherto unreleased cut of Justice League (that I could’ve sworn already existed and was perfectly releasable, but whatever).

That movie might’ve been the ultimate farewell to the Snyderverse timeline; rumor has it that The Flash will reboot the DCEU entirely — via time travel shenanigans — and start something new, maybe even consistent/cohesive! More on that film in a few months.

While it’s nice to have a comic-book movie that leans into the silliness of it all (albeit not entirely without the self-consciousness/jokiness/”irony” of the Marvel films) and dares play several clichés straight and with a smile, it’s not nearly as charming in that regard as the first Shazam! (in a similar vein, it fails to follow up on the previous film’s Mr. Mind tease, giving us boring generic villains that seem like Wonder Woman rejects instead of an evil caterpillar). In terms of acting, there’s little to remark on. Artistically, there’s less.

As others have observed, the reception and box-office numbers of Shazam! Fury of the Gods hint at a dire future for the once-inescapable genre of superhero films, same as the recent Ant-Man 3 and the not-very-ecstatic reactions toward it. Is it finally over? I doubt it. And not only because there’s plenty of obligatory universe-building stuff going on — plenty of teases for adventures to come, some already in production — in this otherwise self-sufficient sequel.

There’s also still the question of how Black Adam, who is Shazam/Captain Marvel’s nemesis in the comics, is going to factor into this. The logical thing would be to tie together this film with last year’s Black Adam somehow, but since Dwayne Johnson was unrelentingly deadset on making Black Adam “his movie”, and because logic is to the DCEU as Kryptonite is to Superman, I guess we’ll have to wait a while for that showdown. Bravissimo once again, DC!