On March 17, 2023, Warner Bros. Pictures released the sequel to “Shazam,” titled “Shazam! Fury of The Gods.” Following the teamwork of the foster children to conquer a villain in their precursor superhero movie, their efforts were in vain because Billy had thrown away the magical staff that met its way to a museum where the three daughters of Atlas then stole it to dominate over the mortal human-beings. 

Throughout this consistent struggle, many themes were prevalent that I found amusing. First, there was a distinct mythological aspect with allusions to gain attention. As the sisters of Atlas searched and planted the golden apple which held the seed to the tree of life, the roots of the tree grew monsters; the king of monsters was the unicorn and only it could defeat the others, so the superheroes fed it skittles (closest thing to ambrosia) in order to win its appeal. 

Upon discovering more secrets in the foster children’s ‘man-cave’, two particular rooms stood out above the others. The random door room transported a person to mysterious spots like a port-a-potty or gave way to a dragon breaking and entering the superhero family’s home. Such Scooby-Doo elements were entertaining. Another room was a gigantic library, comparable to the library at Alexandria, with a floating, sentient pen named Steve. 

Secondly, the foster children are growing up fast and outgrowing the care system which initiated Billy’s distrust in his family. Fortunately, the family bought the house to hold them except it was later torn by the dragon. Because they are growing up, adult maturity comes into play. For example, when the eldest sister is caught wearing sunglasses, her younger sister believed it to be from an appointment at the eye doctors. While the siblings take a step from childhood to adulthood, they still manage to maintain bonds. 

Aside from prevalent themes, a few other elements are memorable. At the end, Wonder Woman revives Billy from his heroic death, ironically enough because of his earlier dream where he dined with her, only to be interrupted by the wizard who brought a message about the staff. Also, one of the three sisters of Atlas was disguised as a student in the local highschool; she befriended Freddy Freeman who was unbeknownst, later betrayed when he found out.

The family and mythological elements create an interesting story that is easy to follow, however, the generic hero-movie plot still lingered. Almost every Marvel and D.C. movie consists of similar plot structure with a problem arising and being conquered, then everyone lives happily-ever-after which gets boring sometimes. On the other hand, this film incorporated inside-jokes, comical humor, and epic graphics into every scene; there was not a moment where the visuals did not meet expectations. I encourage anybody who has seen the precursor or just recently took notice of the movie, to head out to the movie theater now!