New Shazam 2 Costume Analysis: A Big Improvement for the DCEU

| June 4, 2021 |

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Zachary Levi in New Costume in Shazam 2: Fury of the Gods — *Photo: Warner Bros.*

Shazam! is one of the very best DCEU movies, a perfect distillation of the heart and wonder of the classic character composite with modern sensibilities, aided past manager David F. Sandberg's eye for "just scary enough" '80s-way family unit horror. The fact that we're getting a sequel in most exactly ii years is cause for celebration, if some impatience. Only Shazam 2 , officially known as Shazam: Fury of the Gods , is now filming, which ways that some looks at the DC movie are going to make their mode out into the earth…whether the filmmakers desire them to or not.

Only Sandberg has ever been a savvy social media user, knows how to tease fans simply enough, and too when to give them what they want. And then with Shazam 2 doing some outdoor filming in Atlanta, and with the knowledge that folks were likely to snap photos of Zachary Levi'due south new adapt, the director decided to go one amend and but drop the start footage (of sorts) from the movie himself…

Bank check it out…

OK, so…every bit Levi's Shazam points out, this is pretty dark and there's not much in the way of details we can come across on the new conform just yet. But that's what the paparazzi are for…

OK, then…this isn't a desperate departure from the get-go film's Shazam costume, only there are nevertheless enough of notable differences, and overall I'd say it's an improvement.

First up, don't panic nearly the lack of a greatcoat in these pics, this is probably from filming an activeness sequence that will crave a CGI cape added in post-production, and there's a physical cape clearly visible in Sandberg's video. Those greyness and silver highlights might be placeholders for CGI lightning that will grade through the costume, likewise.

You can still run across see the greatcoat fasteners at his collar, and while it's hard to tell from hither, they seem to nevertheless have the symbolic "tiger" pattern from the first film. Tigers are important to Shazam mythology because of Mr. Tawny, an anthropomorphic talking tiger who used to hang out with Billy and everyone like this was just a normal matter. And why shouldn't information technology be?

The lightning bolt logo is the first thing I'll phone call a 18-carat upgrade. Slightly smaller than the previous costume, and slightly more angular, it feels more dynamic and, well, lightning-like. It seems like information technology still contains the applied "light upwardly" element of the earlier suit, simply it's less obvious when not in use.

While all modern superhero suits are textured, that pattern we see spreading outward from the lightning bolt along the chest and shoulders feels lifted directly from Gary Frank's Shazam comics design. Frank's piece of work has been a major influence on the large screen Shazam anyhow, but this feels similar a actually obvious nod to that.

The red of the costume seems to exist the same shade as the previous one, likewise, but the addition of the darker crimson along the sides makes the look more than dynamic. There's so much red in the suit, and it sometimes felt like it flattened out Levi's course in the get-go picture show. This should assist combat that outcome. Similarly, the belt is a little more than substantial, and the fact that it's less angular keeps the trunk from feeling too "long."

Just my favorite new detail has to be the gauntlets. These feel much more than explicitly like a warrior'due south gauntlets, like something you'd expect to meet on Ancient Egyptian or Greco-Roman armor. Information technology's no coincidence that concept art of Dwayne Johnson in his Black Adam costume appears to show off very similar gauntlets. Shazam and Black Adam depict their powers from the same magical source, and then there should be visual continuity between the 2.

The boots don't look like a drastic difference from the before version in terms of size and shape, merely they have definitely tightened upward that "sandals" look they had earlier into something a little more traditionally "boot-like." While I always appreciated the "gladiator" wait they were going for with that before, it was never really i of my favorite features of the costume and information technology always felt a little awkward.

What'southward really refreshing is that they seem to have cut down the overall muscle padding, particularly in the shoulders. While all big screen superheroes have enhanced musculature these days, the padding in the previous conform was downright asymmetric in places, and that seems to take been stock-still here.

Overall, this looks like a really powerful look for the accommodate. There'south probably lots of small details that we won't be able to meet until official hello-res photos are released. The first suit was full of little touches and symbolic callbacks to the ancient source of Shazam's powers, equally well equally the comics.

The big question now is whether or not there's an in-story reason for the alter in look. Presumably, Billy Batson'south look is influenced by his subconscious ideal of what a superhero should await like, which explains things similar the brighter ruby, the bigger logo, and peradventure fifty-fifty the outsized muscles in the showtime film. But with Billy a couple of years further into his teens for Shazam 2 , perhaps those ideas accept "matured" a piddling, also.

Nosotros'll find out when Shazam: Fury of the Gods opens on June 2, 2023.