Many comic book movies are getting a little goofier these days, and fans are definitely NOT here for it. There has been a lot of talk about how silly Thor: Love and Thunder turned out to be, and many people needed to be more addressed with it. Now audiences have started to turn their scrutinising lens onto the latest DCU movie set to come out next. Many DC fans have commented on the goofy humour in the trailers for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and, surprisingly, the director has responded to the criticism.
Too Funny
Since the trailer for Shazam! Fury of the Gods was shown (when Black Adam came out in theatres), fans have been taking to Twitter to discuss the comic book humour in it. When I say discuss, I mean rip apart. Kam Kenobi (@kamkenobi) started the shenanigans by posting a video clip of the new trailer with their comments.
The clip in question was when Zachary Levi (Shazam) is battling a dragon and laughs, saying, “I just threw a truck at a dragon. I love my life.” Kam Kenobi’s comment on the video was, “I always hated the ‘let me say what I just did out loud to the audience’ cliché,” which garnered a ton of comments and has over 1 million views with 22.3 thousand likes.
One of the top replies that went viral (over 88 thousand likes) was posted by Lebbertoxd (@InsaneLetterbox), who said, “Absolutely the worst thing comic book movie humour ever created was this trope.”
Director Responds
David F. Sandberg is the director of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and has DCU co-head Peter Safran in his corner as a producer on the film. Worth mentioning is the fact that Safran also produced the first movie.
Another fan brought Sandberg into the conversation when they replied to the viral post with their opinion. Rachel (@TheWolfSpirit1) wrote, “It’s unfortunate because @ponyshmasher [Sandberg] seems like a great guy and has made some exciting content on YouTube going over his directing decisions. The first Shazam! movie gave me massive ‘ehh’ vibes, and I’m not holding my breath for the second one.”
Sandberg replied to Rachel’s tweet, saying that the scene hadn’t made its way into the film’s final cut. “FYI, that line is not in the movie. It’s just in the trailer.” – David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher).
That being said, many people thought that the trailer for the new movie was awful and didn’t have high hopes for the film it represented.
Trying To Be Goofy Like Marvel
Shazam fans are starting to worry that DC is trying to emulate Marvel’s goofy style, which has yet to work out for them. Safran’s co-head, James Gunn, brought the goofy factor into the MCU with Guardians of the Galaxy. Fans are starting to worry that this is becoming a trend.
The first Shazam! was meant to be goofy because Levi was portraying the youthfulness of Asher Angel, who was portraying the protagonist, Billy Batson, at the time. Now that Asher Angel is 20 years old, fans don’t think that the same goofiness and humour are warranted in Shazam anymore.
Even the actor who portrayed Thor, Chris Hemsworth, is sick of the goofiness that is happening in his own films, so comic book movies need to start thinking about some profound changes. When writing their films, they need to consider what their fans want and only include tropes that actually fit.
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