Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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I have absolutely no faith in the DCEU ever having a good film in it. I don’t think I have to explain to anyone here my “DC Fangirl” bonafides... I’m not a Marvel loyalist hoping to see the Distinguished Competition fail. It’s just that the only decent DCEU outing to date has been Wonder Woman. Which, let’s be honest, is really a 3.5 out of 5.0 star film. Gal Gadot is great, the cinematography is stellar, the first act was amazing... But act three was a major letdown. Overall, it was pretty average.

Everything else has been flat out BAD.
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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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So I've just found out that, not only will Billy's foster family from the Nu-52 "Curse of Shazam" film be in the movie, but will actually transform at one point to their Nu-Shazam forms to have the Nu-Shazam Family in the movie.

Image

So this IS going to be "Curse of Shazam: The Movie". God damnit.

For those of you just joining the show, I hate the Nu-52's take on Captain Marvel, the Marvel Family and the Shazam Mythos. I hate it bad. I hate Curse of Shazam, I hate what it did to my favorite superhero and his mythology, and I hate, HATE, HATE the Nu-Shazam Family. And at least one person over on Ronin Army basically called me a racist for the above statement, because apparently you can't criticize something that have non-CIS white males involved without being a racist.

I don't hate the Nu-Shazam kids because they added a black girl, a Japanese boy and a Hispanic boy to the Marvel Family. If I was going to do a book about the Marvel Family, I would actually up the team to 7 people, add 4 new members, but actually have them be from Japan (a brother/sister pair), Africa and either India or Mexico, making the team international and actually multi-cultural. I'd also have it to where each of their homes is linked to the Rock of Eternity and they can use it to go to this larger compound Billy acquired for them where they can hang out as much as they want.

No, I hate the Nu-Shazam Family because:
  • Curse of Shazam is tied for the worst thing to happen to the Marvel Family since Trials of Shazam. The only person who escaped from that train-wreck with any dignity was Mary, who was actually written VERY WELL. In fact, I'd make her portrayal there her default presentation in any future comics, being super sweet and kind, but also willing to stand up for other people, tell off jerks and take on bullies. Meanwhile Billy is made into a self-pitying, arrogant jerk (emo-punktard as I like to call him), Freddy is made into an actual thief and con artist, and the other kids have no real personality to speak of.
  • The Nu-Shazam kids exist solely to help teach "Bad Billy Batson" the true meaning of family, and have no purpose if he's the classic Billy, who actually has the qualities that would get him picked to be Shazam's Champion. If Billy was who he's suppose to be, he wouldn't need them. So basically they made Billy a jerk so that they could include these kids to earn Political Correctness Points.
  • The kids are just waaaay too convenient. Billy just happens to go to a new foster home that just happens to have Mary and Freddy while also just happens to have other kids who are all pure and good enough to be good Shazam Power Wielders. Contrast that with Cap's actual backstory where Freddy and Mary were added to the Family over time and naturally, and were fully developed enough that they could immediately be spun off into their own books after their introduction.
  • The kids dilute the idea of Billy being Shazam's chosen hero, as he's now just one of 6 kids who each embody one aspect of the Shazam Pact. Billy = Power, Mary = Courage, Freddy = Stamina, Pedro = Strength, Eugene = Wisdom, and Darla = Speed. It's not that Billy is Shazam's primary hero who shared equal power with Mary and Freddy for various reasons, he's just one of a group who each have one aspect of the power. There's nothing special about that.
  • The kids require screen time, and in the story somehow steal time away from Billy's development, but never get enough time for their own development to really make them into characters themselves. This is going to be a big problem for the movie, because in order to actually have them matter, you're going to need to give 6 separate characters enough time to flesh them out, in addition to all of the stuff going on with the villains and other cast members. Compare that with, say, Justice League, which also had 6 heroes, but Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were all established in a previous movie, and Superman spent most of the film dead and apart from the team. I mean, Lord of the Rings managed to make the audience care about the nine person Fellowship, but that movie had actual talent involved, a solid story to work off of, and over 3 hours of run time.
Basically, the kids inclusion that early on ensures that Billy is never really a hero in his own right. He never gets to show his resourcefulness of surviving on his own, he never gets to show his inner strength and empathy by remaining a good person despite his bad circumstances, never shows the qualities that convinced Shazam that Billy was incorruptible, never gets to be a hero on his own without his five back-up dancers there to provide a safety net, etc.

It's frankly amazing how Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam spent about 15 minutes of a 20 minute short film having Superman, Capt. Marvel and Black Adam fight, and it STILL did a better job of being an origin story than Curse of Shazam was.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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I swear to Rao, Warner Brothers should just put their animation department in charge of all future live-action DCEU films. The Direct-to-Video DC Comics adaptations are all better than any other movie they’ve produced in years...

Hell, even comparing the Batman movies (which seem to be the only good DC films) to something like adaptation of Batman: Year One or the venerable Mask of the Phantasm leaves the live-action films wanting.

Scrap the Justice League and the whole DCEU. Start over from scratch. Go grab Grant Gustin, Melissa Benosit, Stephen Amell, and the rest of the CW actors, and make a live-action shot-for-shot remake of 2008’s Justice League: New Frontier.
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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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I admit that I only skimmed throught the Curse of Shazam storyline because after reading the first issue it seemed to me that it missed the point about Billy. While I can see the logic behind making Billy (and Freddy) a bit more jaded, the entire point of his character was that he was a good-natured kid in spite of living through a terrible childhood. A Billy Batson that play the cynic, but does the right thing to help others (sort of like Aladdin in the Disney movie) I can go with. I can imagine him stealing food and then give it to another homelss guy that is way worst to wear than him, but not blasting an ATM like he did at some point.


Batgirl III wrote: Sat Apr 28, 2018 4:59 pm I swear to Rao, Warner Brothers should just put their animation department in charge of all future live-action DCEU films. The Direct-to-Video DC Comics adaptations are all better than any other movie they’ve produced in years...

Hell, even comparing the Batman movies (which seem to be the only good DC films) to something like adaptation of Batman: Year One or the venerable Mask of the Phantasm leaves the live-action films wanting.
I know I'm going to be crucified for this, but I really didn't enjoy Nolan's Batman that much. They weren't bad movies, but I think that a number of things in them really needed to be handled differently. My usual #1 complain is Harvey Dent: the character worked, but only just and the reason in my book is that they didn't bother to establish a good link between him and Bruce Wayne. The definitive version of Dent, for me, is the one from the Batman Animated Series, which took its time to establish the friendship between Harvey and Bruce, making Two-Faces a character with a significant impact on the story. Nolan's depiction was way too "utilitaristic", Batman sacrificed himself to cover-up Dent, but there was no personal involvement, it was simple math: Gotham needed a dead martyr to rally around, more than a living knight to protect it. There was really no emotional significance.
Batgirl III wrote: Sat Apr 28, 2018 4:59 pmScrap the Justice League and the whole DCEU. Start over from scratch. Go grab Grant Gustin, Melissa Benosit, Stephen Amell, and the rest of the CW actors, and make a live-action shot-for-shot remake of 2008’s Justice League: New Frontier.
One of the things I really never understand is why there's this idiosincracy to the idea of having the movie universe and the TV universe running parallel. Granted the tone and the style are very different, but in more than one way that's exactly the point. A single narrative universe doesn't need to operate all on the same tone and premises, in fact handling the different parts in different ways makes it richer.
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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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One of the things I really never understand is why there's this idiosincracy to the idea of having the movie universe and the TV universe running parallel. Granted the tone and the style are very different, but in more than one way that's exactly the point. A single narrative universe doesn't need to operate all on the same tone and premises, in fact handling the different parts in different ways makes it richer.
Yet another area that where Marvel Studios is doing it right and the WB/DC has it wrong.
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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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Batgirl III wrote: Sun Apr 29, 2018 8:56 pm
One of the things I really never understand is why there's this idiosincracy to the idea of having the movie universe and the TV universe running parallel. Granted the tone and the style are very different, but in more than one way that's exactly the point. A single narrative universe doesn't need to operate all on the same tone and premises, in fact handling the different parts in different ways makes it richer.
Yet another area that where Marvel Studios is doing it right and the WB/DC has it wrong.
Kind of, so far the connections between the Cinematic Universe and Agents of SHIELD have been all over the place. I'm hoping they would wrap it up with Captain Marvel

...

Okay, I realize that was kind of wrong to say in this thread ;)
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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

Post by Thorpocalypse »

Ares wrote: Sat Apr 28, 2018 4:33 pm So I've just found out that, not only will Billy's foster family from the Nu-52 "Curse of Shazam" film be in the movie, but will actually transform at one point to their Nu-Shazam forms to have the Nu-Shazam Family in the movie.

Image

So this IS going to be "Curse of Shazam: The Movie". God damnit.
I'm so sorry, Ares. Truly I am. Tried to give the Nu52 Shazam story a chance since Geoff Johns was writing, but I guess no one is perfect.

I blame It and Stranger Things for this take. The plucky group of kids bit is all the rage right now.
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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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Thorpocalypse wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 6:54 pm
Ares wrote: Sat Apr 28, 2018 4:33 pm So I've just found out that, not only will Billy's foster family from the Nu-52 "Curse of Shazam" film be in the movie, but will actually transform at one point to their Nu-Shazam forms to have the Nu-Shazam Family in the movie.

Image

So this IS going to be "Curse of Shazam: The Movie". God damnit.
I'm so sorry, Ares. Truly I am. Tried to give the Nu52 Shazam story a chance since Geoff Johns was writing, but I guess no one is perfect.

I blame It and Stranger Things for this take. The plucky group of kids bit is all the rage right now.
I mean, I get the rational, and the creators have said they're going to try for a lighter, more fun tone, so it's possible we'll be getting "Curse of Shazam", but with a more classic Marvel Family tone. Which still would be a pretty mediocre-to-bad story, but it'd feel a bit closer to something resembling Captian Marvel. I mean, this could still be a good film, it's technically possible, but it won't be about Captain Marvel. And dear God, the "Captain Marvel vs Shazam" name debates are going to be even worse once that movie comes out.

"But they called him Shazam in the movie?"
"Yeah, and they gave Dr. Doom superpowers in both films he appeared in. They get stuff wrong sometimes."
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
- Captain Marvel SHAZAM! : Power of Hope (2000)

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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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Ares wrote: Sat Apr 28, 2018 4:33 pm So I've just found out that, not only will Billy's foster family from the Nu-52 "Curse of Shazam" film be in the movie, but will actually transform at one point to their Nu-Shazam forms to have the Nu-Shazam Family in the movie.

Image

So this IS going to be "Curse of Shazam: The Movie". God damnit.
Damn. I was harboring some actual hope for this film, but this...this has killed that hope.
Image
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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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Batgirl III wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:04 pm I have absolutely no faith in the DCEU ever having a good film in it. I don’t think I have to explain to anyone here my “DC Fangirl” bonafides... I’m not a Marvel loyalist hoping to see the Distinguished Competition fail. It’s just that the only decent DCEU outing to date has been Wonder Woman. Which, let’s be honest, is really a 3.5 out of 5.0 star film. Gal Gadot is great, the cinematography is stellar, the first act was amazing... But act three was a major letdown. Overall, it was pretty average.

Everything else has been flat out BAD.
I like Man of Steel, actually. It's not great, but I enjoyed it.

BvS, if it could have been the 3 and half hours it needed, would have been decent and Justice League had a few good moments, but overall, it was disappointing.

Suicide Squad...well, it had...uh...Jai Courtney not being nearly as annoying as he can be, so that's a compliment, I think...

I do wonder what happened in Act 3 of Wonder Woman but I still really liked it overall. I still have hope for Aquaman. Let's remember, even though they weren't technically the MCU, the Ghost Rider movies, the Punisher movies, the last Blade movie and Hulk exist, so sometimes it takes a while to get things going.
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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

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Captain Marvel vs Superman: Chuck style

The scene that had me campaigning for Levi as Captain Marvel since 2010.
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Re: Lead cast for Shazam! film.

Post by bsdigitalq »

So Levi just shared the first official look at Captain Marvel (DC) on his Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjDiorVA22S/

Um, kay.
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