With Asher Angel’s young Billy Batson and Zachary Levi’s Shazam portrayal scoring big, both in the box office and in the hearts of audiences, fans are eagerly awaiting his return to the big screen. However, the mighty superhero wasn’t the only character from the 2019 movie that was beloved. Another character, the mystical wizard portrayed by Djimon Hounsou, was quite the fan-favorite. Although the character died during the events of the movie, a recent set of leaked photos suggests that Djimon Hounsou’s Wizard is returning for the sequel.
Is the Wizard going to return in Shazam! 2 or is it a flashback?
As already mentioned, the Wizard died in the first Shazam! movie. Well, technically, he didn’t. He just turned to dust after successfully passing on his magic to Billy Batson early on in the first film. Because of this, it is possible that only the Wizard’s body passed on. This was the case in the comics, as the Wizard would occasionally show up in spirit form to help guide Billy from the Rock of Eternity. However, the actor’s dark hairstyle in the leaked set of photos appears to portray him in his younger form, which makes it more likely that he’s going to appear in flashbacks in Shazam! 2. With the Shazam! sequel pitting the titular superhero against a daughter of Atlas, one of the gods that serves as the source of Shazam’s power, the Wizard’s appearance in a flashback makes sense. Of course, this is all just speculation at this point. We only know a few key details about Shazam! Fury of the Gods, so don’t expect to learn more about how the Wizard fits into the movie until the movie premieres. If it’s any consolation, we do know who Atlas’ daughters are. Hellen Mirren and Lucy Liu are both on board as Hespera and Kalypso, respectively, with Rachel Zegler also appearing as an unnamed daughter of Atlas in the upcoming DCEU film. Unfortunately, fans of Mark Strong will feel disappointed about what we are going to say next. The actor has confirmed that he won’t be returning as Thaddeus Sivana in the sequel. This is despite the mid-credits scene of the first movie setting up what appears to be an alliance between his character and Mister Mind. With that said, fans have a long wait ahead of them. Shazam! Fury of the Gods is set to premiere on June 2, 2023. The good news is that several DCEU films and TV shows are slated to launch before then. The closest is The Suicide Squad (August 6, 2021) followed by the Peacemaker TV series (January 2022), Black Adam (July 29, 2022), The Flash (November 4, 2022), and finally, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (December 16, 2022).
