Warner Bros. has released a new Shazam! poster. In the upcoming superhero movie, foster kid Billy Batson (Asher Angel) acquires the power of SHAZAM, which, when he says that word, transforms him into an adult with superpowers (Zachary Levi) who must protect the world from the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).

It’s weird to think back to just a few years ago and how Warner Bros. was trying to contrast itself against Marvel movies by leaning into a dark and gritty aesthetic with movies like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice or something more madcap like Suicide Squad. Now the studio is all about making their superhero movies look fun, and nowhere is that more realized than in the marketing for Shazam! Look at this poster and you’ve got bubble gum and cell phones. The poster may be a bit confusing if you don’t know Shazam is actually a kid (if you don’t know the plot, it looks like a superhero doesn’t seem to particularly interested in saving people), but I’ll simply say that I was recently at a screening where the audience saw trailers for Shazam! and Aquaman, and they were way more pumped for Shazam! So the marketing appears to be working for at least some of the superhero movies.

Check out the Shazam! poster below. The film opens April 5, 2019 and also stars Djimon Hounsou and Jack Dylan Grazer.

 

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Here’s the official synopsis for Shazam!:

We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).

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Image via Warner Bros.
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Image via Warner Bros.