By: Anton Massopust III

“Billy Batson, you have been chosen. Say my name so that my power can flow through you!”   

The new movie Shazam! is a DC character. Billy Baston (Ashor Angel) is a young foster kid still looking for his birth mother. He is given the powers by a mysterious Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) who is guarding against a group of demons of the seven deadly sins and becomes Shazam, a superhero with all kinds of superpowers that comes from immortal beings such as Hercules, Zeus, Achilles, Atlas, Mercury, and Solomon.  However, just being a kid is not easy even though he has all these powers and teams up with another young orphan, Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) who has a bum leg and is obsessed with superheroes. Doctor Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong) is searching for The Wizard because he wants the power of Shazam for himself, but only for evil purposes. He eventually finds the Wizards lair and releases the seven deadly sins, evoking their power on himself, both hero and villain. But they are only using Sivana for a means of escape and to destroy Shazam.

At first Billy doesn’t know how to use his given powers and is just goofing around like a regular kid, but he soon realizes the importance of family and what good is power if you can’t share it? Be ready this is a different kind of superhero movie.

Many people will probably ask me because I know a lot about popular culture who is Shazam? Shazam is a superhero from Charleston comics that eventually DC sued over because he looked too much like Superman. Charleston Comics eventually won the lawsuit, but they were so riddled by legal bills they eventually went out of business and DC bought the rights to the character and revamped him, bringing him back to the DC Universe. He originally was called Captain Marvel and had his own live action TV Series in a live action show (The Shazam!/Isis Hour) from 1974-1977 and an animated series from Filmation.

DC changed Captain Marvel to Shazam! He was revamped and became a part of the DC Universe, even joining the Justice League of America. In this movie, Billy Batson is a kid struggling with being abandoned by his mother and eventually finding a new family in a group home.

This is a fun movie and I think that 10-year olds will really enjoy it. The very young might be a little scared of some offscreen violence, but the antics of a young Billy Batson inside a grown-up body having to deal with superpowers will delight them. How to be a true hero is a fun action adventure with some goofiness and lots of jokes thrown in. DC does a good job here as usual. Definitely check out the ending credits scene. It’s well worth the wait if you’re a comic fan, so invoke the power of the Wizard and go see Shazam!