There’s definitely been a lot to take in with regards to DC’s Future State, as the two-month publishing initiative has brought some significant new takes on characters that fans know and love. For Billy Batson/Shazam!, that mindset has gone into some interesting directions, as fans who have checked out Future State: Shazam! #1 have surely already seen. The miniseries’ first issue took a shocking approach to the very idea of Shazam! — with consequences that could surely reverberate through the larger DC universe. Spoilers for Future State: Shazam! #1, from Tim Sheridan, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, Marcelo Maiolo, and Rob Leigh below! Only look if you want to know!
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The issue opens with Shazam! having a complicated experience as part of the Justice League of America — he wakes up in night terrors, avoids the phone calls from the Shazam! family and almost all other superheroes, and just largely has a less-than-sunny disposition. After the team goes to Iron Heights to fight off Giganta and a Manhunter robot, who have been tasked with freeing Creeper from the prison and delivering him to Black Adam, Shazam!’s story takes an even more dramatic turn. Creeper is brutally murdered off-panel, something that the team theorizes could be tied to a string of additional killings.
Later on in the issue, Shazam! visits Johnny Thunder, who he has been keeping as a prisoner in a vacant building in Philadelphia. Shazam! realizes that the JLA will eventually track down Johnny’s whereabouts, and decides to give him and his magical Thunderbolt one last chance to fight for their lives. Again, we don’t see the fight, but Shazam! does wake up bloodied in his bed the next day.
The next day, the JLA deduces that Shazam! was behind Creeper’s murder, and confront him about what other murders he had committed. The issue then flashes back to an altercation between Shazam! and Neron in Hell, where Neron argues that Billy Batson needs to stay behind and guard the gates.
While Shazam! resists, Neron splits the two into two separate entities, and Billy resigns himself to accepting his fate.
The idea of Billy and Shazam! now existing as two separate people is definitely profound, especially with regards to the overall sense of innocence and optimism that Shazam! has represented as a hero over the years. It also explains away Shazam!’s recent murders — it definitely doesn’t justify them, but it showcases just how monumental those powers can be when not coupled with a child’s view of the world.
What do you think of Billy Batson and Shazam! being separated in Future State? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
