Shazam is now in theaters now. The latest DC movie had a successful opening weekend, and there's already plenty of buzz about a sequel that will, at the very least, bring back screenwriter Henry Gayden. If you've already seen the movie, check out all the obscure DC references and Easter eggs you might have missed. Keep reading to learn more about the movie's credits scenes and ending.
Shazam! may be a fun, kid-friendly blast of positive energy for the DCEU that stands well on its own, but that it also sets up some big things to come in the future--after all, for all the jokes and the bright colors, this movie is introducing a whole new corner of DC's long and complicated comic book history into the mix for the movies. (It's got a playful cameo at the end that was almost much different, too.)
And its post-credits scene just takes it all one step further with even more vintage comic book insanity brought to life on the big screen.
Shazam Spoilers below, so proceed with caution.
The movie leaves us off with a clear set up for a sequel--not only does Billy successfully battle both Sivana and the seven deadly sins, he also empowers his foster family in the process. The newly formed team establishes their very own lair within the Rock of Eternity, where they'll probably make more than a few messes in the process of keeping the magical world safe from evil. C'mon, who could blame them? They're kids set loose in an extremely dangerous (and wonderful) candy store--and there are some pretty major threats looming just over the horizon.
Meet Mr. Mind
Alright, I hope you're ready to get weird, because we're about to get really, really weird. The first post-credits stinger features an incarcerated Dr. Sivana--looking a whole lot more like the original comic book Dr. Sivana of the 1940s, stooped over, wearing glasses, and so on. He's frantically trying to find his way back to the Rock of Eternity by endlessly scribbling on his cell walls and apparently having absolutely no luck.
But just as his pencil breaks and he feels all hope is lost--a voice. A computer generated voice that just so happens to be coming from a worm. A worm with a plan to break Sivana out of jail.
So, OK, those words together in that sentence probably seem like nonsense even in a movie as goofy as Shazam. But don't worry, it's not a gag or even a punchline. This is all real-deal comic book stuff. Remember back at the beginning of the movie when young Sivana was first transported to the Rock of Eternity, and there was a brief shot of a tiny caterpillar in a glass case? And later, when Billy was transported to the Rock, the caterpillar's case was broken and the caterpillar itself was missing?
Well, we found him. Or rather, he found Sivana. Mr. Mind may not look like the most intimidating supervillain in the world--he's, well, a bug, no beating around the bush there--but he's actually got a pretty devious track record in the DC Universe. There's a reason the wizard had him locked up like a magical trophy.
Mr. Mind got his start back in the 1940s, when superhero comics were just getting their start, as an intentionally goofy threat. He was a non-threatening, easy-to-understand pastiche of fascism--something that the kids reading comics in the Golden Age would have definitely heard their parents talking about, even before Pearl Harbor, but probably didn't completely understand. He was a megalomaniacal worm from outer space with a genius level intellect and "the conscience of Hitler" (no, really.)
Of course, he was largely made to be pretty easily dispatched by Billy and friends--but that didn't stop Mind from constantly trying to scheme his way into world domination. As part of said schemes, Mind actually founded one of the first ever supervillain team ups in comics history: the Monster Society of Evil, an extremely goofy name for a pretty goofy group of ne're-do-wells with a revolving roster that traditionally included both Mind and Sivana alongside some of Billy's other frequent foes.
Obviously the post credits scene here--Mind breaking Sivana out of prison--is implying the formation of a live action Monster Society in one way or another, but the group's goals (and other members) are still largely mysterious. As with most of the vintage comics campiness that has persisted to the modern day, Mr. Mind and the Monster Society have been overhauled a few times over to make them less hilarious and more genuinely scary--including a reveal that Mind's worm form was merely his larval stage, prior to his metamorphosis into a giant cosmic moth capable of eating the space time continuum.
So, what we're saying is there are a lot of potential avenues a live action Monster Society could take. We might see Mr. Mind turn into a silly gag villain, or we might see him destroy the entire DCEU. Your guess is as good as ours.
Talking To Fish
The final post credits sequence is considerably less jam packed with foreshadowing. We get to see yet another of Freddy and Billy's super power tests--this time to check out whether or not Billy can talk to fish--an obvious wink to Aquaman.
Outside of the occasional t-shirt, Freddy makes no mention of Arthur Curry in his superhero fan collections, so this moment is actually the only real Aquaman reference in Shazam. He's probably still too new on the scene for Freddy to have found much real life merch, right? After all, the whole Atlantis thing did just happen.
Who knows, maybe someday Arthur will show up at Fawcett High to impress all of Billy and Freddy's friends like Clark did at the end of the movie--though we probably shouldn't get our hopes up for that one.
