Despite release windows in the next 5 to 9 months respectively, the Warner Bros. and the DC Extended Universe has kept any footage from AQUAMAN and SHAZAM! under wraps. Until now.
With Comic-Con International in San Diego running all weekend, we finally get our first look at the two new adventures for the DCEU. In James Wan’s AQUAMAN, due out in cinemas in December, we see the origin story of half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry as he takes the journey of his lifetime—one that will not only force him to face who he really is, but to discover if he is worthy of who he was born to be…a king.
The trailer relies very much on the appeal of a shirtless Jason Momoa, and that might just be the one factor that brings the world together in these troubled times. There’s definitely hints from Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and Joe Prado’s New 52 runs “The Trench” and “The Others” present in the trailer. The tone is wildly inconsistent, even for a trailer, but here’s hoping this is more than slow-mo action and underwater CG.
Then there’s the actual ray of light in the DCEU, with SHAZAM! set to be a proper comedy for the franchise. Even if it is a mildly mean-spirited body-swap caper. David F. Sandberg directs the film that the synopsis summarises as being about Billy Batson. “By shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them!”
