Shazam! Fury of the Gods is going to be facing an uphill struggle if its opening weekend projections are anything to go by, but perhaps it will be helped along by director David F. Sandberg harnessing the power of the MCU when describing the scale of the second outing for Zachary Levi’s hero. In the latest issue of Total Film, Sandberg noted that the roster of characters in the film make it like a certain Marvel power-group. He said:

“[Fury of the Gods is] like a mini-Avengers movie. That’s how I saw it because there are so many characters. You have all these heroes, you have the villains, you have the monsters… It’s a lot of movie packed into its runtime. And it’s complicated. Just shooting and staging up to 11 characters in a scene… Where do you put everyone? It’s really hard!”

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is the first of four DCU legacy movies being released before James Gunn and Peter Safran unleash their new slate of DCU movies and TV shows. While there are many who have questioned whether there is any real point investing time in the likes of Shazam and Blue Beetle, knowing that a whole new regime is coming, the future of Shazam at least may not be a s clear cut as it first appeared. Sandberg recently commented on the possibility of more to come from the franchise. He said:
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“He definitely won’t [be in the DCU’s future] if people don’t go see the movie. What I’ve been told is that there’s nothing in the Shazam films that contradict the future plans for DC. So the possibility for more Shazam is there and if that’s what you want your best bet is to go see the film.”

Related: Shazam! Fury of the Gods Runtime Reportedly Revealed

Zachary Levi Already Has an Idea For Shazam’s DCU Future
Warner Bros.

While the focus is currently on making the new Shazam movie a success, star Zachary Levi certainly doesn’t seem ready to leave his character behind after the sequel. He previously discussed a possible route for a third movie, saying:

“With our particular franchise, it’s been very difficult for me to wrap my head around what would be the move. Partly because all the kids are growing like weeds, so I don’t even know how that applies to the dynamic of what the movie’s going to be. I’ve never seen a superhero zombie movie. Genuinely, I would love to kill zombies, and I think it would be really fun to do Shazam 3. Not an undead Shazam, but rather we’re having to fight off like hordes of the undead.”

Currently there is no way of knowing whether this idea, or indeed the character, would fit into the plans being rolled out by Gunn and Safran. With Shazam’s ultimate sparring partner of Black Adam already having been sidelined, there is certainly a big question mark over whether we do get more Shazam in the main DCU. Of course, there are DC franchises that will run alongside the main DCU, and that could potentially be a route Shazam could take in future.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is released on May 17.