Shazam! Star Asher Angel Talks Disappointing Sequel and Shazam! 3 Plans

Asher Angel explains why he doesn't believe in "superhero fatigue."

By Jamie Jirak

2023 was an interesting time at the box office, especially for superhero movies. While Barbie crossed $1 billion to become the highest-grossing film of the year and Warner Bros.'s highest-grossing movie ever, the studios' DC projects all underperformed. Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, and Blue Beetle did poorly in 2023 before Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom had a rough turnout during the holidays. In addition to having a poor run at the box office, the movies also weren't huge hits with critics. Out of the four DC films that were released last year, Blue Beetle came out on top with a 78% critics score whereas The Flash earned a 63% score, Shazam! Fury of the Gods earned 49%, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom a 34%. Shazam! star Asher Angel recently spoke with ComicBookMovie.com, and opened up about the sequel's disappointing numbers.

"Look, I think the superhero genre is a really hard genre," Angel explained. "I hate when people talk about superhero fatigue. I don't believe in that stuff. I think whatever DC or Marvel puts out there, it's gonna resonate, but if it resonates, it resonates. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I think a lot of the time, people put so much pressure on Marvel and DC in that every movie has to be amazing. It's a hard genre, for sure, and I'm just happy I had the opportunity to be involved in that world. It was wish fulfilment because I always wanted to be a superhero when I was a kid."

During the interview, Angel also addressed the possibility of a third film, which no longer seems like now that the DCEU is being rebooted. 

"Yeah, I think we always planned on making a third one, but you have new people come in and take over and plans can change and things can shift. I guess we'll see. We'll see what the future holds," Angel shared.

Related:

What Warner Bros. Movies Are Releasing in 2024? 

Warner Bros. has many big films scheduled for 2024. Dune: Part Two already hit theaters earlier this year with more on the way. The upcoming slate of films includes Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Twisters, Joker: Folie à Deux, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim. The first movie in the rebooted DCU, James Gunn's Superman, is not set to be released until 2025.

Stay tuned for more updates about the future of DC.

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