Villain Profile: Loki

You think after a few hundred years, Loki would get tired of messing with Thor. But you'd be wrong.

A fun fact about Norse mythology, Loki was never portrayed as Odin’s adoptive son and his heritage was never a secret to anyone in the myths. No, his Jotunn (Frost Giant) heritage was well known and he was more of an advisor to Odin than a son or student. He had a certain level of brilliance to most of his plans. Although, his plans often went awry due to his overconfidence, or when he got super drunk. His placement as Thor’s adoptive brother (and functionally displacing Thor’s actual sibling Balder), was an invention of Marvel Comics. Same with turning Thor into a clean-shaven blonde. Yeah, seriously, most of the Norse tales that describe Thor mention his incredibly thick and curly red beard.  Crazy right? Anyway, enough about the ‘true’ Loki, were here to talk about the supervillain. Let’s get to it.

Loki’s tale begins ages ago, before Odin was known as the All Father, even. Odin’s father, Bor, was waging war against the Frost Giants. Bor followed a wounded Giant to the cave of a powerful sorcerer. The sorcerer surprised the king of Asgard and turned him into a pile of snow. Odin came upon his father as he was blowing away, and the sentient snowdrift begged his son to find someone to restore him. When Odin didn’t raise even a finger to help his father, Bor cursed his son to raise the son of a fallen king. Not sure how that fixes his current snow predicament or punishes his boy for screwing him over in any way, but hey, I’m just a mortal. A few days later, Odin fought and killed Laufey, the king of the Frost Giants. Another Marvel alteration, as the Laufey of Norse myth was in fact a woman. Way to deny us the sheer awesomeness of Loki’s bad ass mom, past Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Just saying. After killing Laufey, Odin discovered a small, Asgardian/human sized baby hidden in the fortress. Turns out the Frost Giant King had hidden his boy, fearing his subjects would ridicule him for siring a tiny boy. Odin took the child in and raised him along side his sons Thor and Balder.

He's green with envy.

While things were good amongst the Aesir of Asgard for a while, as the boys grew, Loki developed an intense hatred for Thor. The Asgard, warriors by nature, valued strength and bravery above all else, and while Thor had those qualities in spades, Loki was somewhat lacking. He did make up for this with an incredibly devious mind and a talent for magic. He used his powers in at first very minor pranks that quickly began to escalate. He went from shaving off Lady Sif’s golden hair and replacing it with the black hair of the dwarves to actively trying to murder his brother by getting Asgard’s enemies to take shots at him. This included making deals with Frost Giants, and releasing imprisoned Storm Giants to do battle with the elder Odinson. Odin eventually grew tired of Loki’s antics and sealed him in a tree for a few hundred years. He remained trapped in the tree until someone shed a tear for him. In classic Loki fashion, he eventually found a work around and used his magic to make a leaf hit Heimdall, guardian of the Bifrost bridge, in the eye with a leaf and the tear landing on his tree.

Freed for the first time in centuries, Loki traveled to Midgard (Earth) and sought out his brother who was living there. He engaged in battle with his brother several times. Occasionally they’d fight one on one, but more often then not he’d coerce or create enemies to fight Thor as his proxy. He’s a cautious being by nature, after all. The most brilliant attempt of this being tricking Thor into fighting the Hulk. He used illusions to get the two to engage in a fight. This unfortunately backfired in a big way, as it led Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp into the fray as well and the five heroes formed the Avengers to defeat Loki.

To recount Loki’s many, many attempts on Thor’s life and bids to take over Asgard would take days. I’ll just sum it up as the Frost Giant is incredibly stubborn. He personally created a number of Thor’s enemies like the Absorbing Man (aka Crusher Creel), and used the invincible Destroyer Armor on his brother more then once. But these attempts were fraught with failure. He also accidentally created a modern team of opponents for his brother in the form of the Wrecking Crew. Loki had struck a deal with another Asgardian power, Queen Karnilla, to reclaim powers that were sealed away by Odin. A smalltime criminal named Dirk Garthwaite broke into Loki’s hotel room, knocked him out and put on his silly helmet while he looted the place. Karnilla mistook Garthwaite for Loki and gave him Asgardian power. Garthwaite transferred this power into his trusty crowbar, and split it with his team of fellow construction worker turned criminals, forming the Wrecking Crew. I think that Loki has ultimately decided that this was a fair trade, as he later regained his powers and Wrecker and his Crew are regularly recruited as henchmen for his schemes. Talk about finding the silver lining.  More recent stories have shown Loki attempting to earn a certain amount of redemption for his eons of plotting, but the son of Odin always seems to fall back into his “God Of Evil” position before too much time passes. He’s conquered Asgard more then once, watched it burn in the fires of Ragnarok, been reborn, died and been reborn again. And yet he always tries to settle that score with his dear brother Thor. Whom, you guessed it, is always shocked when Loki betrays him. He thought they were cool.

Loki is a diminutive but powerful Jotunn, a Frost Giant. While smaller and weaker then his colossal clansmen, he’s still stronger, faster, and more resilient then most superhumans. This heritage makes him nigh invulnerable to all but the strongest of opponents and the mightiest magics. The Jotunns like the Asgard are incredibly long lived. I think his exact age varies, but most stories agree he was around for things like the black death and the fall of the Roman empire. And I think by his people’s standards he’s probably not even 30 yet. He’s a genius, but his ego often causes him to flub up otherwise foolproof plans. He’s an expert in the field of magic and uses the power to create force fields, illusions of every size and kind imaginable, created energy blasts, fly, and shapeshift to varying degrees. He’s also able to astral project over incredibly distances and occasionally read minds.

He's the best villain until Killmonger, I
will accept no other answer.

Loki is one of Thor’s most recurring and recognizable antagonists. There’s just something about watching two brothers fight that audiences just love. I’m glad I don’t have that relationship with my brothers. Or maybe it’s his enormous horned helmet that people keep coming back for. Who knows? He and Thor have had their ups and downs, but I doubt there’s been a series where Thor trusts his brother again after learning about what a snake he can be.

In The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Loki served as the overarching antagonist for the first season. He appears in the episode “Thor the Mighty” in which he tricks some of his Frost Giant brethren into fighting Thor. Thor defeats the Jotunn’s and captures Loki. Loki is then sent to a magical prison called the Isle of Silence by Odin as punishment. This was ultimately revealed to be a ploy to convince Thor and the other Asgard that he’s out of commission, as Amora the Enchantress quickly frees him. He then uses his powers to disable the biggest super prisons on Earth to unleash a steady stream of villain to keep Thor busy on Earth, and has the Enchantress form the Masters of Evil with Baron Zemo when he decides Quality is better then Quantity. We don’t see much of Loki again until the three-part season finale. It’s revealed that in Thor’s time on Earth, Loki has usurped Odin’s throne and conquered much of the nine realms. He’d tapped into the “Odinforce” to steal Odin’s power, and leave the All-Father in a perpetual “Odinsleep.” He’s eventually defeated when the Avengers attack his palace, the final blow being dealt by Hank Pym ripping out the Tree of Life from the ground. This caused a new, non-corrupt tree to spring forth, separating Loki from the power and reviving Odin. As punishment for his crimes, Loki was locked in a swamp-like dimension, entangled in vines as the Midgard serpent Jormungandr dripped poison directly into his eyes. Which must mess with ol’ Jormy at least a little, as Loki is his dad. Just saying.

Tom Hiddleston has portayed Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Thor was released back in 2011. In his first outing as a villain, he ruins his brother’s coronation as king of Asgard, and then just kind of uses the opportunity of his brother’s banishment and his father succumbing to the Odinsleep to try and prove he’s the better sibling. This culminates with him falling into an open abyss after the Bifrost Bridge was destroyed. It’s revealed that he survived, and had possessed Thor’s friend Dr. Selvig and was helping SHIELD’s tesseract experiments.

Considering his punishments have included being stuck in a tree,
snake venom being dripped in his eyes, and trapped on an isle
of silence, falling for a half hour probably isn't all that bad.
But it's probably the most humiliating.

He returns in The Avengers with a scepter that can take over peoples minds in a bid to conquer Earth. While he’s able to launch a full invasion of Earth using Selvig and the Tesseract, he’s ultimately defeated by The Avengers. Thor uses the reclaimed Tesseract to return them to Asgard for punishment. He’s kept imprisoned for Thor: Dark World but is freed by Thor so he can help defeated the Dark Elves and their leader Malekith the Accursed. He’s seemingly killed in battle, but in the final minutes it’s revealed he’s alive and has taken on Odin’s image to rule Asgard.

In Thor: Ragnarok, his brother comes home and is none to pleased to learn what Loki had been doing while he was away. He forces Loki to reveal where what he did with Odin. After a run in with Doctor Strange, where Loki was stuck falling “For THIRTY MINUTES!” they find Odin somewhere in Norway. The All-Father bids farewell to his sons but warns them that their sister, Hela, would come for them once he was gone. Hela appears almost instantly, destroying Mjolnir in a fight with Thor and casting her brothers into the void. They arrive on Sakaar, where Thor is forced to fight as a gladiator while Loki cuddles up to Sakaar’s king, the Grandmaster. Despite an attempted double cross, Loki does side with Thor in the end, and they help the bulk of the Asgardians escape while the Fire Giant Surtur destroys Asgard and Hela with it.

In life, he was the Liesmyth. In death, he was a son of Odin.

He has his final big screen performance during Avengers: Infinity War. In it, The Asgard ship is being hit by Thanos and his Black Order. They’d come for the Tesseract, which Loki had stolen from the treasure room. Loki offers the Tesseract and the Space Stone hidden within, to Thanos. But this is revealed to be a feint as Loki tries to stab the Titan in his giant chin. Thanos doesn’t fall for it and ends up strangling the life out of Loki, much to Thor’s horror. He lived a villain, but died a son of Odin.

It was later revealed that a Loki television show, presumably a prequel to his death, will is being made for Disney’s Disney+ streaming service. Tom Hiddleston is set to reprise his role. Should be interesting if nothing else.

Loki is a fun villain. Even before Hiddleston gave his show stealing performance in Thor, the God of Mischief and Lies has always been fun to watch. Brilliant, deceitful, often cruel and on a few occasions noble, it’s usually a ton of fun to see how his devious mind works. I’ve always like that, while Thor is his personal enemy and his target, the threat he creates is usually so massive that it requires the rest of the Avengers to step in and hold his forces at bay while the brothers duke it out. The movies have captured the best elements of him, showing off that the character can be charming as well as devious when the situation demands. His ultimate sacrifice at the beginning of Infinity War wasn’t completely shocking, but it did surprise me to see him go out so nobly. Dying in a vain attempt at ending the fight before it really began, that’s totally not his usual modus operandi. I’m interested to see what his limited series will spawn, and to see him in more projects. He’s the deviously dark and downright demented lord of lies, the mischievous Loki. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

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Review: Avengers: Endgame pt. 1 The Assault (No Spoiler)

All things come to an end. It is inevitable.

Let’s talk Avengers: Endgame. The story that began eleven years ago with Iron Man, that went on to span twenty-one different films has come to a close. We’ve seen a self-centered industrialist become an armored champion, a soldier out of time rally the troops, a jade titan find a home, a being of legend fall from grace and reclaim his glory, a pair of assassins transform into cunning allies, a king become both champion and envoy of his people, a man of science embrace the mystic, and a group of outlaws save planets. Just to name a few. Oh, and Spider-Man is there now too. Ha. They faced off against the Mad God Thanos last time, and while the different groups of Avengers put on valiant fights, Thanos ultimately overcame them all and used the Infinity Gauntlet to kill 50% of life. This is a massive film, so I think you can understand why I want to break it down into multiple parts. Don’t want to overload your eyes and brains with my nerd gushing. So, let’s get to it.

The Avengers have to avenge
50% of all life. Tall order.

We open on Tony and Nebula onboard the Guardian’s ship, the Milano. Despite captain Peter Quill’s death due to The Snap and ship’s engineer Rocket Raccoon being on Earth, the two were able to jerry rig the ship to fly, at least for a while. It does help having the world's fore most engineer on the ship. While they made it most of the way from Thanos’ homeworld of Titan, the ship still broke down about 1000 light years from Earth. Tony, fearing the worst, records a goodbye message to Pepper. He knows it’s an insanely long shot of anyone back home finding their ship, but he feels better leaving the message to her that he drifted off dreaming about her. He passes out, while the cyborg Nebula makes sure he’s comfortable. Just when all hope seems lost, Tony is awakened by a blinding light. It’s not a supernova, it’s Captain Marvel. Carol grabs the ship and takes them home, lickety-split.

Back home, the surviving Avengers recap to Tony and the audience what happened. That Thanos overcame the Avengers and the massive Wakandan Army to get the last Infinity Stones, did his big Snap, and 50% of all life was Dusted. Well, sentient life, anyway. What? Aside from Groot, I saw no other foliage disappear. Combining resources with Nebula and Rocket, they’re able to track down Thanos to his hidey-hole on the other side of the galaxy. They detected a massive energy burst unique to the Infinity Gauntlet on a planet that Nebula called the Garden. Thanos talked to her about it while mutilating her and upgrading her cybernetic components. Great dad right there. To the groups shock, Tony tells them to piss off. He’s tired and obviously broken after their defeat at Thanos’ hands. I have to imagine holding your young student in your arms as he fades away into ash does have that effect on a guy. He hands over his portable Arc Reactor and tells them to run and hide. Despite that setback, the team moves forward. It’s Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Captain Marvel, Rocket, Nebula, War Machine and Banner in the Hulk Buster to save the day.

…

And that’s all you’re getting out of me. For now, anyway. I’ve spent the last few days agonizing over how best to approach this one. On the one hand, I want to gush about this movie, everything it did right and how overall amazing it is. On the other, I hate to give too much away and ruin someone else’s first experience of it. Honestly, I wish I could Neuralize myself ala Men In Black so I could watch it again for the first time. So, I came up with this little compromise. I’ll only talk about the first fifteen minutes of the movie here, and do a more in-depth analysis next month. That should give everyone who honestly wants to see it spoiler free a chance to see it and allow me to gush in detail later.

That all being said, I will give you broad strokes. This is perhaps the BEST send off for several Marvel Characters. It’s no secret that Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans for sure are done with Marvel Movies after this one, as they haven’t signed new contracts. For them, and several other legacy Avengers, this was their last Rodeo. And by God, it delivers. I think of Logan, and how that was a bittersweet but perfect send off for Logan and Professor X as played by their definitive actors. And this was that for those who have decided to bow out. It highlights their strengths, their humanity, and tugged at my heart strings in just the right way to make me feel truly sad that we won’t be seeing some of these guys again.

The effects are gorgeous, both on the massive, planet wide scale down to the intricate details that go into digitally altering a character’s face.

I have loved these movies and these characters since first seeing Iron Man with my older brother in theaters when I was a teenager. The Marvel Cinematic Universe encapsulated everything I love about Marvel characters, costumed superheroes, and big budget effects while changing just enough to make the stories accessible to those who don’t know how many Iron Men, Captain Americas, or Black Panther’s there’ve been. And to fill in gaps in the roster that the lack of ownership of several key characters caused. It’s been a long, strange and bumpy trip these last eleven years. And while it brings a tear to my eye to let some of them go, it was still a hell of a ride. And there’s the promise of whatever comes next. But after the decade’s long Infinity War Saga, whatever does come next has some pretty big shoes to fill.

There’s so much more I want to say. Hell, it was a three-hour movie, I could probably write a full twenty-page essay on the damn thing. And it would be fantastic, just saying. But, saying even one thing more would ruin several twists that even I didn’t see coming. And this stuff is what I spent my free time think and writing about. I’ll just close by saying, to everyone that has ever starred in, worked on, and enjoyed the exploits of the big screen Avengers, it’s been a fantastic ride and I wish you all the very best.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Review: Shazam!

It's good to have a battle cry.

If you told me twelve years ago back when Chuck first aired that Zackary Levi would go on to be starring in a movie based on a DC character, I’d have probably laughed aloud.  But, after having seen Shazam!, I can say that past me was very much incorrect. While it isn’t the best film that I’ve seen this year, or even the best film with Djimon Hounsou in it this year, it’s still a fun film and I’m excited to talk about it. Let’s get to it, shall we?

He's here to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and..
oh wait.

We begin in Upstate New York in 1974. A young boy named Thaddeus Sivana gets into an argument with his father and brother. Side note, I find it kind of sad that John Glover keeps getting cast as an abusive father, he was Lex Luthor’s crappy dad Lionel in Smallville, as the man seems delightful. Back on task, as the argument reaches its peak, Thad’s magic 8ball starts flashing weird runes and Thad is transported to a mysterious cave. This place is the Rock of Eternity, a source of magic in the DC universe. They try to claim its “the” source, but if comics have taught me anything its that there’s rarely a single source of anything. Just saying. There, he’s introduced to Djimon Hounsou… I mean the Wizard. The Wizard is the last surviving member of the Council of Seven Wizards, a group that was dedicated to protecting the world from the Seven Deadly Sins. He keeps their petrified bodies in his entryway, like garden gnomes if they were designed by HP Lovecraft. He offers his power to Thad, if he’s able to pass a test, to see if he’s ‘pure of heart.’ The Sin’s start talking to Thad and encourage him to take up a magic object called the Eye of Sin. He goes for it, fails the test and is kicked out by an irate Wizard. He gets sent back to his car just before he left. Thad, hyper furious about being deemed unworthy, freaks out and causes a chain of events that end with a major car crash. He and his brother are fine, but papa Sivana is thrown from the car and crippled. Whoops. To his surprise, his magic 8ball flashes a message of ‘Find us.’ Spooky. Following Thad’s banishment, the Wizard casts a spell to bring one pure of heart to him, to be the champion. No matter how long it takes.

Bro's for life? Bros for life.

Flash forward 44 years (whoops) and we’re in Philadelphia with William “Billy” Batson. Billy is a runaway foster kid searching for his mother. In a flashback, we learn that Billy and his mother were separated at a carnival when he was five or six. The only thing he has from her is a small ball compass that she won for him at the carnival, and the last name Batson. He’s run from 23 different foster homes while looking for her, and tracked down close to fifty women with the last name of Batson in the right age range, but came up empty each time. He’s placed in a group home run by Victor and Rosa Vazquez, a couple of former fosters that are trying to pay things forward. They bring Billy home and introduce him to his fellow fosters, Mary Bromfield, Pedro Pena, Eugene Choi, Darla Dudley, and Freddy Freeman. Fun fact, Mary in the original comics and most adaptations is in fact Billy’s fraternal twin whom had been placed in a different foster home following their parent’s death. He’s rooming with Freddy, whom is a bit of an odd ball and superhero enthusiast. He’s got some memorabilia like a bat-a-rang and a bullet supposedly fired on Superman. He kind of freaks Billy out a little, but seems nice enough, as do the rest of the foster family.

While that’s going on, an adult Dr. Thaddeus Sivana has become obsessed with finding a way back to Eternity Rock and has funded a massive experiment on ‘mass hysteria’ to find a way back. He is basically paying a research team to track down individuals that claim to have been to the Rock of Eternity like him to try and find a way back. His most recent case gives him the key, a video that shows how the door to Eternity Rock is opened. It’s the seven magic runes repeated seven times. Seven is a literal magic number in most mythology and folk lore, FYI. Thad gets in and is able to get around a far weaker Wizard to steal the Eye. It implants itself in his head and he becomes a vessel for the Seven Deadly Sins. He mortally wounds the Wizard before returning to Earth to enact his revenge.

Yes, DC has hit the point where they can make jokes in their
movies and they sound natural. I was shocked too.

Billy, meanwhile, is adjusting to his new family and new school, a bit. He at least develops enough of an attachment to Freddy to protect him from some bullies. Side note, how insecure does someone have to be to pick on a kid with a bum leg? He runs away from the bullies and gets on a subway car. Symbols start appearing and he’s teleported to the Wizard. The grievously wounded wizard explains a bit about his history. Seven wizards protected man kind from evil, they chose a champion, champion went bonkers, released the Sins and the eight of them killed six of the Seven Wizards. Can you smell what Black Adam is cooking!?!?!? Whoops, spoiler, maybe. The Wizard swore to never let anyone except the one with the purest heart gain his power and be the new champion. But… given his injuries and time being something of a factor here, he’s kind of forced to settle for Billy. This is what happens when you’re too picky. The two place their hands on his wizard staff and Billy is instructed to say the Wizard’s name… Shazam! He’s instantly transformed into Zachary Levi. Saying Shazam infuses Billy with the Wisdom of Solomon, the Strength of Hercules, the Stamina of Atlas, the Power of Zeus, the Courage of Achilles, and the Speed of Mercury. No, I don’t know why it’s Mercury (Roman God) instead of Hermes (Greek God), other than Shazah sounds silly. The magic also transforms Billy into his physical prime, hence why Asher Angel became Zachary Levi. Shazam begs Billy to use his power to stop the Sins and protect the world from evil magic before crumbling to dust. Billy teleports himself back to the subway and has some… adjusting to do.

Returning home, Billy grabs Freddy and the two try to figure out the mechanics of Billy’s new powers. They behave like two teenagers figuring out superpowers would, they post everything online. Facepalm. Through some experimentation, one sort of stopped mugging and one actually stopped robbery, they learn that Billy is pretty much invincible, super-fast, super-strong and can shoot lightning from his hands. They also learn that Billy can change back and forth by saying Shazam. Things start becoming tense as the two teens start butting heads, Billy feeling like Freddy is using his powers for attention, and Freddy feeling like Billy isn’t sharing the glory. Billy starts skipping school and using his powers to panhandle. Freddy confronts Billy about ditching him to be a magical street performer, which leads to one of Billy’s lightning strikes causing a bus crash. Billy saves the people, but that doesn’t really give Freddy the warm fuzzies. They have another argument, just before Sivana flies in. He’d recently murdered his family and the board of directors of his father’s company and had been warned by the Sins of the Wizard’s Champion. Sivana starts beating on Billy, who is freaking out slightly when he discovers that Sivana can hurt him. FYI, it takes either magic or Kryptonian level strength to damage Billy’s Shazam form.

7 Demon powers vs. 6 deity power, who will win?

Billy is thrown about town by Sivana, he gets a few licks in and learns that he can fly, but the actual adult is out for blood and Billy is a terrified fifteen-year-old. Apparently, the Courage of Achilles is the part of the powers that takes a while to manifest or something. Sivana wants Billy to transfer the powers of the Wizard to him, but Billy has no idea how. And I mean, come on, no one would willingly give up superpowers to a sociopath. He’s able to ditch Sivana by reverting back to normal Billy, but Sivana sees news footage of Freddy and Billy arguing, and catches Freddy. How convenient… or inconvenient… I guess it depends on who you ask.

Back at home, the Vazquez’s have learned about Billy’s truancy and being a dick and try to set him straight. At the same time, the other foster kids learn that Billy is the ‘Hero’ everyone is talking about. This was due to the news footage, arguments that Billy and Freddy had in front of them, and Billy saying too much to Mary when he saved her from getting hit by a truck. This is a massive relief to the talkative youngest, Darla, as she’d seen Billy transform but had been sworn to secrecy. After Billy is done getting chewed out, the group reveals that they’d found Billy’s parents. Eugene is a bit of a hacker and he may or may not have hacked into some secure servers to get this information. He was born in Minnesota (representing!) to C.C. and Marilyn Batson. His father is doing time in a Florida penitentiary and his mother… lives in Philadelphia, like 20 minutes from there. Turns out she went back to using her maiden name sometime after she and Billy were separated. Billy runs off and the Vazquez’s follow after him. About five minutes before Sivana and Freddy turn up at the house. Oh damn.

SHAZAM!!!

Billy makes it to his mom’s apartment. She’s shocked to see him and kind of fills in the blanks from the day at the carnival. Turns out, she didn’t lose him so much as willingly gave him up. I know, this is shocking to no one who can look at things objectively, but Billy is still a kid. She basically buckled under the pressure of being a young single parent and just walked away after they were separated. She tries to make it sound nobler, by saying that the cops were ‘taking care of him like she never could.’ Billy offers her the compass, but she doesn’t recognize it. So… you abandoned your son because of stress, gave him an abandonment complex and don’t even have the decency to remember the last gift you gave him?!?!?!? Marilyn is a bitch. Sorry, sorry, fictional character, but errr! As Billy is walking away, he gets a call from Freddy… well, Sivana using Freddy’s phone and is told to come back to the house. He runs to the roof, shouts SHAZAM and flies to the rescue.

Okay, so the good first. This was a very fun movie. DC films to date have all been rather dark, tonally as well as literally. This is the first movie that I’ve seen of the DCEU that used bright colors and was relatively lighthearted. It’s mostly a story about a kid learning about his powers and what a family really is. Ie, they’re the ones that you love, regardless of genetic connection. I liked the bonds between Jack Dylan Grazer and both forms of Billy, Asher Angel and Zachary Levi respectively. Even when Billy is in his Zachary Levi form it feels like a relationship that’s very true to close brothers. Mark Strong was a good, if somewhat limited, villain. He’s a Syndrome style bad guy, a potential mentor scarred him deeply as a child by acting like he wasn’t good enough so he became a monster. That old story. He doesn’t feel as flushed out as Syndrome, though. Still, I like Strong best when he’s being a seething, mildly intimidating baddie, and he’s exactly that in this film. It’s like his comfort zone. I was surprised and yet entertained by the fact that Djimon Hounsou was Shazam. The Beninese actor has been in several Marvel and DC films already, but the fact he was also a minor character in Captain Marvel earlier this year just puts a smile on my face. The effects were top notch. I especially liked the transformation sequence from just before the climax, with Billy leaping into the air before transforming. It was really well done.

The bad is minimal but still there. While the testing of Billy’s various powers is fun, it does eat up a lot of screen time. I think there was almost a solid half hour of Billy just doing stuff to show off his powers that were then put into the YouTube videos. It could have been streamlined is all I’m saying. That and the ensemble cast of foster kids were somewhat wasted. Freddy and Darla (Faithe Herman) get a fair amount of screen time, but Mary (Grace Fulton), Pedro (Jovan Armand) and Eugene (Ian Chen) barely get any time at all. We know that Mary is torn about going to college across country, Eugene’s a gamer and a hacker and Pedro… gets an F on a test. That’s about it… Well… okay so there’s a scene that might give us a little more. There’s a bit within the climax where Billy uses his powers to teleport the group away from an enraged Sivana. They end up at a place he was thinking about… a local ‘gentlemen’s club.’ Wes, if you’re reading this, ask your mom what that is. Love ya, Amy! Sorry, just trying to give a shout out to my nephew, and annoy my sister. Anyway, group comes out of the club and Pedro mentions its ‘not his thing.’ Now, that could have a ton of different meanings behind it, but as a former fifteen-year-old I can think of only one reason why one wasn’t ogling the… staff that that sort of establishment. Just saying. Ultimately the group does help out in defeating Sivana and the Sins, but it doesn’t feel like they did that much. Which, considering Mary’s former status as Billy’s biological sibling does feel somewhat odd. But yeah, aside from not really using the ensemble cast to the best of their ability, and a slightly overlong power montage, there really isn’t much to complain about.

This isn’t necessarily bad, but there was a point that disappointed me. When the Wizard Shazam described the fall of the Seven Wizard Council, it was done with magic CGI balls of light. I can’t be the only one that wanted to see The Rock in his full Black Adam gear destroying an ancient city, right? I know, it would have been hard to squeeze that in too, but dang it, I’m still saying missed opportunity.

Overall, I give this one a B+. While there were a few bumps here and there, the overall product is a fun ride with a unique hero at its heart. The whole thing about Shazam being a kid in an adult’s body is one of the more unique ideas to appear in comics and this film captures all the highs and lows such a situation could bring. Honestly, it makes me wish they’d do another Shazam focused TV show like they had back in the 70s. A Netflix style long format TV show with all of the same elements as this movie probably would have solved 90% of my complaints. Just saying. But, again, this is a good movie and I’m happy I saw it. Shame they didn’t schedule the release slightly better as Endgame comes out this week and is going to obliterate the box office. Speaking of, I guess I should probably formulate my thoughts on that one too.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

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