Film

The New ‘Shazam’ Trailer Sees DC Movies Take On An Old Enemy — Themselves (And Aquaman)

With 'Shazam', DC are looking to make that self-depreciation dollar.

by Joseph Earp  14 March 2019
The new Shazam trailer promises a good time at the movies

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For years, the DC cinematic universe has been the victim of countless parodies, all of them designed to gently (and not so gently) rib the series’ impossibly po-faced and serious tone. But now, with Shazam, it looks like DC is looking to cut out the middle man and jump on the ‘poke fun at DC’ train for that all-important self-depreciation dollar.

Yep, Marvel has Deadpool, a fourth-wall-breaking prankster, and now DC has Shazam — a defunct and largely unheard of superhero that DC execs have resuscitated for some adept self-ribbing.

The forthcoming film focuses on Billy Batson (Asher Angel), a young boy who stumbles across a wizard who gives him the power to turn into a fully-grown heroic man, Shazam (Zachary Levi). Thusly, because the titular hero is basically a 15-year-old boy in a grown man’s body, the thing is a full-blown comedy, DC’s first. Imagine Big but with Mark Strong as a superpowered baddie thrown into the mix, and you’ll be on the right track.

Check out a new trailer for Chinese audiences that shows off the film’s meta-humour, and then we’ll talk again below.

So yeah, the biggest revelation here is that DC just can’t stop making fun of Aquaman. No matter that James Wan‘s Aquaman movie has become one of DC’s most unbridled success stories, looks like a buff dude who can telepathically communicate with fish will literally always be funny.

There’s also a few other references to DC heroes slipped in — notably the young boy playing with his Batman and Superman figures — and a neat little gag poking fun at the surprisingly popular “two superheroes hanging high in the sky and somehow managing to shout loud enough to hear each other” trope.

The thing looks fun, is what I’m saying, and if Aquaman proved anything, it’s that fun might be the key to the future of DC.

We’ll find out when Shazam releases on Thursday, April 4.