A new look at Shazam! debuted today, and it contained a unique homage to the first film in the DC Extended Universe.
The latest teaser for the film, which you can check out here, featured more of Shazam! (Zachary Levi) and Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong) going toe-to-toe with each other. In one sequence, Sivana holds on to Shazam! while they’re both flying in mid-air, before punching him across the sky.
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For DCEU fans, the shot will certainly look familiar, as it mirrors the fight sequence between Superman (Henry Cavill) and Zod (Michael Shannon) in Man of Steel.
Shazam! might not be the first DC property to borrow this fighting style, as a Season 1 episode of Supergirl did something similar. But given the film’s unique, self-aware take on the DCEU, it definitely feels like something worth noting.
“Our movie takes place very squarely in the DC Universe.” Levi said in an interview last year. “In fact, I would argue that we’re kind of the most self-aware of it because the movies that we all watch — I mean, Aquaman and Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman — they’re all basically documentaries in their world,” Levi said to Entertainment Tonight. “These things, these are all real events that have happened. Batman and Superman fighting, Superman saving all of Metropolis, whilst simultaneously destroying the entire city — that all really happened.”
And the fact that the teaser contains such a clear nod to Man of Steel is a little bittersweet, as a cameo from Cavill was scrapped from the film following drama around contract negotiations. But as Levi has hinted, he’d love to go toe-to-toe with Superman at some point in time.
“Shazam and Superman have iconic battles throughout the history of the comic books,” Levi told Entertainment Weekly during a Comic Con interview, “because Captain Marvel/Shazam is the only one who has a shot of beating Superman — and has. Listen, Cavill. I’m not trying to start anything, but don’t start nothing, there won’t be nothing….Yeah, that would be pretty fun to do that.”
Aquaman is in theaters now. Upcoming DC films include Shazam on April 5, 2019, Joker on October 10, 2019, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, and Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020.
