It's Already Clear Shazam Sequel Repeats DCEU's Worst Mistake
Two trailers for Shazam! Fury of the Gods dropped in January, and fans are already starting to realize that it's doomed to make the same mistakes as its predecessors.
2019's Shazam! was a fairly fun movie that garnered decent ratings and amassed a modest box office gross. But it was ultimately forgettable – it's not on anybody's Top Superhero Movies lists.
The biggest issue was its complete lack of character depth. We were supposed to care about this kid – Billy Batson – who suddenly gets inundated with mysterious power and becomes the superhero Shazam.
They even gave him a traumatic backstory with a killer late-movie twist, but between the constant jokes and overused clichés, it was hard to care about Billy.
By the end, his foster siblings are suddenly given the same power. Already in the first movie, we're thrown five new superheroes with no development, just when we're finally starting to get attached to the titular hero. They fight a bunch of CGI monsters who, likewise, have no development. Fans are eventually subjected to a massive CGI battle between a bunch of characters we don't care about.
That exact issue has been DC's issue for the past decade: They don't have the patience to properly develop their characters, preferring instead to choose style over substance.
DC – in each film and as a connected universe – rushes their characters toward the climax before giving them a proper story. Their competitor, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, spent six movies in as many years developing each character individually before teaming them up in 2012's Avengers. DC made their big-budget team-up two movies in.
A proper sequel would have lowered the stakes, introducing a low-level threat and focusing the runtime on character development. World-ending threats bring theatergoers on opening night; emotion-driven films with nuanced villains create long-term fans and establish franchises.
Fury of the Gods is choosing the former rather than the latter. Fans can look forward to another massive CGI fight scene with a monster destroying half the city – not exactly the type of movie that cares about character development.
These types of movies are what cause the so-called "superhero fatigue." It's not that fans get sick of superhero stories – fans get sick of bad superhero stories.
The MCU follows a lot of tropes and predictable narratives, but they've still managed to keep fans engaged. Because unlike DC, they've developed their characters deeply enough that fans actually care to see what happens to them. Until DC does the same, they'll keep releasing disappointments.