Shazam Movies in Order (Including ‘Black Adam’)
A few decades ago, the superhero genre was limited to adapting only the most popular superheroes like Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man. But with superhero movies gaining more and more popularity and eventually becoming mainstream, the two biggest comic book houses decided to give a chance to less popular characters. Marvel broke their ice in 2014 with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ and DC started with TV shows like ‘Arrow’ and ‘The Flash‘ before they started introducing B and C-list characters to the big screen.
One of those characters was Shazam, formerly known as DC’s Captain Marvel. Although he existed since 1940, Shazam became a part of DC’s canon in 1973. However, the character’s appearances in other media were still limited to minor roles in animated projects until 2019, when Zachary Levi debuted as the character in the ‘Shazam’ movie directed by David F. Sandberg. With the introduction of Shazam on the big screen, a new sub-franchise in DCEU was launched, so now we’re looking at all Shazam movies released so far, including that one spin-off movie.
Editor’s Note: This post is regularly updated to provide you with the latest updates regarding ‘Shazam’ live action franchise.
How many Shazam movies are there?
As of right now, there are two Shazam movies and one spin-off movie centered on the character of Black Adam, who is an anti-hero and Shazam’s nemesis, whose powers have the same origin as Shazam’s.
Shazam movies in order (at a glance)
Shazam movies are officially set in DC Extended Universe. Still, despite the references and some guest appearances that are omnipresent in those movies, the knowledge of other DCEU movies isn’t needed to watch them as standalone movies. The order of Shazam movies and its spin-off goes as follows:
- ‘Shazam!’ (2019)
- ‘Black Adam’ (2022)
- ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ (2023)
Are Shazam movies connected? Do you need to watch them in a specific order?
‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ is a direct sequel to the original Shazam movie, so it’s definitely recommended to both movies the way they were released. On the other hand, the spin-off movie ‘Black Adam’ isn’t needed to understand the Shazam duology, nor do you need Shazam movies to watch and understand the spin-off movie as its own (although it helps).
What is the best way to watch Shazam movies?
Two Shazam movies and the spin-off movie ‘Black Adam’ can be watched separately. Meaning you can watch both Shazam movies before watching Black Adam, you can watch Black Adam before watching Shazam movies, or you can watch ‘Black Adam’ between those two Shazam movies. In the end, everything will sit in its place, and continuity will work. The only important thing, of course, is not to watch ‘Fury of the Gods’ before the original Shazam movie. Still, out of all the ways that work, we’d recommend that you watch these movies by the release date.
Shazam movies in order
‘Shazam!’ (2019)
The original Shazam movie follows Billy Batson, a 14-year-old foster kid who regularly switches foster homes while unsuccessfully looking for his birth mother. The story begins once Billy is accepted into another foster home with five foster siblings, and there he befriends Freddy, a superhero fanatic.
One day at school, after he defended Freddy from bullies, Billy runs to the subway, which will transport him to the Rock of Eternity, where a wizard known as Shazam will transfer his powers to him, transforming Billy into an adult, but still immature, superhero with great powers to use them for good. Billy doesn’t know that he will soon be hunted by evil Dr. Sivana, who is looking for revenge after the wizard deemed him unworthy of Shazam’s powers when he was a kid.
‘Black Adam’ (2022)
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was attached to play the role of Black Adam even before DC Extended Universe started. Johnson plays the role of Teth-Adam, a former slave from Kahndaq who was given the powers of Shazam to free the people from the reign of tyrannical king Ahk-Ton.
Five thousand years later, Black Adam is freed from his tomb, and now he’s ready to unleash his not-so-merciful sense of justice upon the modern world. Justice Society of America will assemble to stop him, but they don’t know that a powerful common enemy is also rising against Kahndaq and the entire world.
‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ (2023)
A few years after the events of the original ‘Shazam movie,’ the Shazam family is doing what needs to be done to keep the peace in Philadephia. However, the next adventure will start with the arrival of the daughters of Atlas, powerful demigods who want to use the staff of wizard Shazam to strip away powers from Billy and his family and rebuild the realm of gods, which will also put the whole world at risk.
While powerful but still rather inexperienced, Billy will need to use all the help he can get and find a true hero inside of him to defeat the biggest threat he’s ever faced, so far at least.
Where to watch Shazam movies?
You can watch ‘Shazam!’, ‘Shazam: Fury of the Gods,’ and ‘Black Adam’ on Max, formerly known as HBO Max. Max platform is notably known to be the home of live-action movies based on DC characters, so it’s always your best place to go. All movies related to Shazam can be watched with an active subscription.
Will there be more Shazam movies?
Due to the poor box office performance of ‘Shazam: Fury of the Gods’ and lukewarm reviews, it’s unlikely that we will see a third Shazam installment in the near future. The upcoming soft-reboot of the DCEU further complicates things, and as we know, Shazam established himself as a character and a superhero in the DCEU, and so far, it doesn’t look like Gunn & Safran have a place for him in their newly dubbed “DCU.” The chances are always there, but they are extremely slim.
The same goes for the ‘Black Adam’ sequel, in which Shazam as a character might appear. Even though Johnson hoped that Black Adam would be a central figure in the next few DCEU phases, the movie famously flopped, and with it, all chances of the character continuing its journey in the upcoming DCU.
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