According to new reports from various trades including Deadline. Helen Mirren Joins Shazam 2. Mirren will appear as the villain Hespera in Shazam: Fury of the Gods. The filmmaking team behind Shazam is reuniting to create the sequel. David F. Sandberg is directing from a screenplay by Henry Gayden. Peter Safran is producing through The Safran Company.

Mirren is a showbiz legend, especially in her home Nation of Britain where she was a TV star for years before breaking into Hollywood. The Oscar winning Mirren is set to play the lead antagonist in this Shazam sequel opposite Zachary Levi. Levi returns as the superhero version of Billy, a boy with the power to become a superhero just by saying the word Shazam. Shazam had Mark Strong, another British legend as the villain, so Shazam: Fury of the Gods continues the Hollywood trope of British villains. Mirren is always great in anything she does, so I’m sure her character will be compelling to watch.

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As for Hespera, well, we cannot really fall back on the comics, because as far as I can tell there is no DC comics counterpart. In Greek mythology Hespera is the Spirit of Immortality, and the word is often connected with the evening. Realistically this puts us in an unusual position when it comes to comic book movies. Normally. comic movie villains are taken straight from the comic book source. Whilst never directly the same, it usually allows us to have a vague idea of what to expect.

I know many of the LRM team rate Shazam highly as one of the best recent DCEU movies. Myself, I was less impressed, as the tone was all a little bit too kid focused for this old man. I guess I’m on my own on that hill. However I do still hope to enjoy Shazam: Fury of the Gods, I’m just not getting my hopes up. What do you think of this casting as Helen Mirren joins Shazam 2? As always leave anything you have below.

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