Shazam 2 Fans Have One Big Issue With Wonder Woman's Appearance
Contains spoilers for "Shazam! Fury of the Gods"
The transition from DCEU to DCU continues to be as confusing as possible, as "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" closes out Billy Batson's (Asher Angel) latest adventure with an appearance from Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). Unfortunately, a TV spot spoiled the hero's arrival earlier this week, so instead of surprising fans, all the cameo really does is raise even more questions about the DCU's future.
After Shazam (Zachary Levi) seemingly perishes during his final battle with Kalypso (Lucy Liu) and her dragon, Anthea (Rachel Zegler) hosts a funeral for the hero with the Shazamily grieving the loss of Billy. It's not long before pure comic-book shenanigans occur, with Wonder Woman arriving, repairing the staff, and reviving Billy before leaving just as quickly as she showed up.
While it's nice to see DC's movies connecting, Wonder Woman's cameo felt out of the blue and completely unnatural, especially given that "Wonder Woman 3" got axed a few months ago. On Reddit, u/EDPZ called "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" "fun" but said, "[I] really would have preferred Billy simply surviving the final battle. The whole Wonder Woman scene felt really shoehorned in there." Unfortunately for the "Shazam!" crew, most fans shared a similar opinion.
Fans agree that Shazam! Fury of the Gods didn't need Wonder Woman
The discussion of Wonder Woman's cameo in "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" continued on Reddit. U/vh347 wrote, "The Wonder Woman cameo felt forced and was super cringe." In typical DC fashion, the studio had to include the hero's theme song with her appearance, and u/IAmATroyMcClure couldn't get over the movie's use of the track. "The juxtaposition of her theme song interrupting a f***ing teenager's funeral had me dying," they said. "It felt so insanely out of place to have that song kick in at that moment." Many fans shared this sentiment, with u/oftenGetsItWrong saying DC has "zero restraint for using her theme."
U/NaiadoftheSea didn't hold back their opinion, saying, "This honestly might be the worst ending I've seen from a superhero movie in a while. Just randomly throw in Wonder Woman to resurrect a dead guy, but she doesn't lift a finger when Greek gods are attacking Earth." They continued by pointing out their surprise that DC allowed the cameo, calling it "nonsense" for her to show up.
Some users, like u/dougiebgood, couldn't help but feel like Gadot didn't want to film the cameo, saying, "I was like 'Yeah, she does not want to be here.'" U/trickman01 suggested that it looked like Gadot didn't film her scenes with any of the other cast present, pointing out that no one else is in the shot any time her face is on screen. U/RDeschain1 let their opinion be known, writing, "Man i hope DC recasts Gadot. Her acting is bad."