Characters / DCEU: Shazam

DC Extended Universe Character Index
Superheroes
Justice League (Superman, Batman) | Shazam | Justice Society | Other Superheroes

---

Individuals who have been gifted with the powers of SHAZAM (A magic word formed from the initials of six specific deities).

---

SHAZAM

"Mightiest of mortals. God of gods. Six immortal elders by name: SHAZAM!"

"With your heart, unlock your greatest power. The thrones of our brothers and sisters await!"

SHAZAM is the title given to the mightiest of mortals, chosen by a council of wizards and blessed with the abilities of both Gods and exceptional men throughout Hebrew, Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology to counter the malicious influence of the Seven Deadly Sins. Long ago, the council chose a champion, but due to unforeseen circumstances, this led to untold destruction and the demise of all but one wizard. From then on, the surviving wizard decreed that only the purest of heart would be chosen as champion.

The Rock of Eternity

"You are standing in the source of all magic. The Rock of Eternity. Seven thrones of seven wizards."

The home base of the wizards and champions.

---

• Ancient Artifact: The Seven Deadly Sins and their magic orb, along with Mr Mind were all held here as a way to protect the various realms from their influence.
  • There's an annex that can be accessed in Kahndaq which contains both the previous champion and the crown of SABBAC.
• Dark Is Not Evil: While the Rock of Eternity is dark and filled with monstrous talking statues, it is actually a place for noble-minded figures.
• Home Base: Billy figures out the Rock of Eternity makes for a perfect superhero lair for him and his foster siblings.
• Mystical Cave: The Rock of Eternity is a base of operations for magic users that exists inbetween dimensions, has doorways leading to other worlds and contains dangerous artifacts and foes.
• Pocket Dimension: The Rock of Eternity has gateways to worlds that are vastly different from Earth. One such world looks like Earth but has crocdile men in it, hinting that the Rock is the bridge between elseworlds.
• Portal Crossroad World: Best seen when Billy and his siblings try opening the Portal Doors and seeing all sorts of bizarre scenes.
• Portal Door: The Rock has several regular-looking doors leading to various alien worlds.
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: When a candidate is summoned to the Rock of Eternity for testing, the flow of time at the point they are pulled from seems to slow to a stop since their return seems instantaneous. This is shown when young Thaddeus Sivana was summoned as neither his father or brother were aware of his disappearance.

Wizards

The Council of Wizards

The Council of Wizards

"The Council of Wizards; the magical guardians of the Earth, sought to restore the balance. They empowered him with the gifts of the ancient gods, and turned a boy...into a champion."

Species: Empowered humans

Played by: Vince Canlas, Onye Eme-Akwari, Sanna Erica, Raj Kala, E. Loyd Napier, Kiara Rashawn, Tonea Stewart

Appearances: SHAZAM! (mentioned, empty thrones) | Black Adam

"My brothers and sisters were slain by the Sins. Their thrones lie empty."

A council of seven wizards that Shazam was part of. Black Adam destroyed all but one of them.

---

• Big Damn Heroes: They teleported Hurut right when he was about to be executed.
• Color-Coded Wizardry: The Wizards all have signature colors. SHAZAM in particular had yellow coloration before becoming a Primary-Color Champion in the present.
• Cosmopolitan Council: They came from various ethnic backgrounds. Since the Council was functioning long before globalization, it's safe to say they're all from vastly different nationalities.
• Empty Chair Memorial: Their stone thrones in the Rock of Eternity were left empty for centuries.
• Long Dead Badasses: They were powerful wizards, and died long ago. Shazam is the Last of His Kind by 1974 and up to the 2010s.
• The Magic Goes Away: They were all killed by Black Adam, with only Shazam left. Since he was holding off on finding a successor until the last few minutes of his life, the Council was very close to being lost forever.
• My Greatest Failure: Thousands of years ago, the Council of Wizards decided to empower a mortal living in ancient Kahndaq who displayed exceptional character. It didn't go well. Unbeknownst to any of them, their first pick for the role of Champion actually was a hero, but he'd passed his powers onto his father and was killed seconds later. The end result was Black Adam going on a rampage that caught the wizard's attention.
• Precursor Heroes: They were this to the Shazam Family.
• Rule of Seven: Seven thrones for seven wizards, with only one who lived to see the 21st century. Billy and his foster siblings would succeed them in a sense, though they're still one member short.
• Seven Heavenly Virtues: Implied. There were intended to be a maximum of seven members on the council who countered the influence of the Seven Deadly Sins.
  • The Wizard Shazam could represent Charity, as he has the ability to pass his powers onto one or more successors. Chastity is another possibility, as he's able to stick to his principles and handle the extreme solitude that comes from being the Sole Survivor for an indefinite period of time, all the while being unable to comprehend why anyone would listen to the Seven Sins.
• She Is the King: "Wizard" is traditionally a masculine archetype, but there are three women on the council (assuming Ambiguous Gender isn't in play).

Wizard Shazam

Wizard Shazam

"Say my name so my powers will flow through you!"

Species: Empowered human

Citizenship: Unknown

Affiliation(s): Council of Wizards

Portrayed By: Djimon Hounsou

Voiced By: Frantz Confiac (European French dub), Marc-André Bélanger (Canadian French dub), Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese dub), Víctor Covarrubias (Latin-American Spanish dub), Guilherme Lopes (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: SHAZAM! | Black Adam | SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods

"I open my heart to you, Billy Batson. And in so doing, choose you as champion."

A powerful wizard living in the Rock of Eternity. He has guarded the imprisoned Seven Deadly Sins for centuries, and needs a worthy young successor as his magic grows weak due to his age. He eventually passes his abilities onto Billy Batson, with the latter just having to say his name to gain superpowers.

---

• All-Powerful Bystander: By the time the Wizard appears, Earth has dealt with the resurgence of Ares, a near-global collapse of civilization from the Dreamstone, a Kryptonian invasion, Doomsday's creation, a city-wide takeover courtesy of Enchantress, an Apokoliptian invasion and an Atlantean declaration of war. Rather than get involved or lower his expectations for a pure of heart champion, the Wizard stays in his lair keeping watch over the Seven Deadly Sins.
• Almost Dead Guy: By the time Billy is summoned, the Wizard is on the verge of death due to a combination of his own old age and being attacked by Sivana moments prior. He survives long enough to hastily explain the situation to the boy and, in a last action of desperation, forces him to take his powers, crumbling into dust immediately afterwards. Subverted, as the sequel reveals he didn't actually die.
• Ancient Keeper: He's been the keeper of the Rock of Eternity for centuries and has kept the Seven Deadly Sins imprisoned there.
• Anti-Mentor: He's blatantly lacking the people skills needed to be a guide for the new champion. Rather than train someone to be the ideal hero, he just expects them to come fully-formed and coldly rejects them over the smallest of imperfections.
• Beware the Superman: Discussed. He learned the hard way of the consequences of giving his magic to the wrong person since the previous champion eventually went on a killing spree, so he wants to be sure that he gives it to a human pure of heart. However, since Humans Are Flawed, he takes too long to find one that meets his criteria, and is ultimately forced to give his powers to a flawed kid (Billy Batson) and hope for the best. However he never learned that he never chose wrong in the first place, it’s just that his Champion gave his powers to his dying father who went on the rampage out of grief.
• Big Good: He was already a major benevolent figure in the first film, but this was undercut by his character flaws which inadvertedly caused the main conflict. In Fury of the Gods he's a straighter example, as he alerts Billy to the presence of a new danger and encourages Billy when he starts doubting himself.
• The Bus Came Back: Despite being disintegrated to bits in the first film, he shows up alive and looking younger in the sequel.
• Character Development: The Wizard started out as a gruff figure that judged everyone through Black-and-White Morality. When the Wizard next appears, he's mellowed out considerably and trusts that Billy will be able to handle things.
• The Chooser of the One: Deconstructed. He spends a very long time trying to find a worthy successor for his power because his "pure of heart" criteria is very strict and rigid that it causes him to reject Sivana and only choose Billy because the Seven Deadly Sins have been released from their prison and a new champion is sorely needed, so he just picks the next best choice he can.
• Composite Character: He's got the name and the flowing white mane of the classic Wizard, but looks much more like the New 52 Wizard, Mamaragan, and has his sometimes rather irritable and ill-tempered side as well.
• Create Your Own Villain: His blunt treatment of young Thaddeus Sivana set him down the road which led him to villainy, and his rejection of so many others gave Sivana the clues he needed to find the Wizard again and kill him.
  • In ancient times, he gifted the wrong type of person with the powers of SHAZAM, and had to deal with the destructive consequences. Subverted as unknown to him, his chosen Champion was never corrupted but had passed his powers to his dying father to save his life.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He summons children into a dark and cold cave, he has a deep and authoritative voice and creepy, long white hair. And all he wants is to find a champion who's pure of heart and give him his amazing powers to fight evils.
• Death by Origin Story: Shazam was mortally wounded by an empowered Dr Sivana, so by the time he finds Billy he only has moments to live. Subverted in the sequel, when it's turned out he is Not Quite Dead.
• Deus Exit Machina: He disintegrates as soon as his powers are transferred to Billy, leaving the boy to figure things out on his own.
• Dreadlock Rasta: When he returns in Fury of the Gods his hair is fashioned in such a way.
• Enigmatic Empowering Entity: His sole purpose throughout the first Shazam film, to the point where he fades away as soon as he finds his champion.
• The Faceless: In the trailer, his face is entirely obscured from the gloom of his surroundings, so much that not even his glowing chest emblem can reveal any part of his face. Averted in the film itself where his face is visible.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": While the first movie seems to establish his real name is in fact Shazam, in the second movie he is never called this and instead is only called "the Wizard" by everyone - to the point he even introduces himself as "the Wizard" to Billy's foster parents.
• Fatal Flaw: His Hair-Trigger Temper. If he was a little more charismatic and patient with kids whose morality was still nebulous and thus were not able to display Incorruptible Pure Pureness right away when he found them, then Sivana probably wouldn't have developed such a grudge against him and Billy would have probably been a little more open to taking on the mantle.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: A Deleted Scene reveals that upon becoming the sole remaining member of the Council, he has had to endure the taunts from the imprisoned Seven Deadly Sins for centuries, and may have suffered a breakdown of sorts resulting in his flawed judgement.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: To an extent. He spent decades (maybe even centuries) searching for a champion to take the powers of Shazam and rejected every single one of them because they weren't completely pure of heart. He doesn't seem to grasp that Humans Are Flawed (especially when they're children and need time to mature) and such a person probably doesn't even exist. He relents and chooses Billy only after the Eye of Sin has been stolen, and the movie goes to show that while Billy is a good person deep down, he still has his flaws much like any other person (nothing says this better than using his newfound powers to empty a cash machine).
• Good is Not Nice: While he's undeniably on the side of good, he's not above being very harsh and even judgmental towards his potential successors. Unfortunately, this leads to a case of Create Your Own Villain as Thaddeus Sivana does not take well to the wizard's cruel rejection of him.
• Hermit Guru: Downplayed. The Wizard has all the makings of one (old, out of touch, lives in an unknown part of the world) but he never gets to train his successor due to dying as soon as his powers were passed on. Played straight in Fury of the Gods where he's revealed to still be alive and gets a chance to provide Billy with some hands-on guidance.
• Hero of Another Story: He's been battling threats to humanity for thousands of years, but we meet him at the very end of his life.
• Horrible Judge of Character: He couldn't find a Champion for most of his life because his selection was based on "pure of heart", as well as an implied constant mental struggle against the Seven Deadly Sins and with being the last surviving member of the Council of Wizards. The sequel has him improve his outlook.
• I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: The now very elderly Wizard chooses Billy Batson to absorb all his powers out of desperation, without even testing if he’s pure of heart, because he's rotting away and needs a successor to ward off evil and stop the Seven Deadly Sins from unleashing themselves upon humanity.
• Kidnapped by the Call: This is how the summons by the wizard Shazam works. Without warning, candidates are whisked away from wherever they are, often at considerable distress, and then returned to the exact moment they left when they are rejected.
• The Kindnapper: Whenever he finds a child who has the potential to be worthy, he summons said child to the Rock of Eternity to put him/her to the test, meaning no harm whatsoever. When sending back the child, it's as if time froze in the outside world for the duration of the test, as in the case of Thaddeus Sivana neither his father nor his brother notice his disappearance in the car for instance.
• Large Ham: Djimon Hounsou is already a big ham but special mention goes to when he bombastically lists the Shazam powerset after empowering Billy, ecstatic that he finally has a successor.
• Last of His Kind: He was part of a group of six similar wizards, and he's the last living member of the council until he meets Billy Batson.
• Literally Shattered Lives: He falls apart into dust after transferring his powers to Billy.
• Magical Negro: In a sense. While the Wizard has traditionally always been a passive figure whose role is to empower the Caucasian protagonist, said powers did belong to him for quite some time before the story starts. Played straight in Fury of the Gods, where he does display a degree of magic but leaves the heroics to Billy and his family.
• Magic Staff: The Wizard is seen using the staff to shoot energy bolts and transmits his powers to Billy when the latter touches it. Sivana tries to have Billy transmit him his powers the same way only for Billy to use it to empower his foster brothers and sisters instead.
• Mentor's New Hope: Billy's heroics in the first film have convinced Shazam that just because the new Champion isn't pure of heart doesn't mean he can't be a great hero.
• Mirror Character: The Wizard is one to Billy. Shazam has spent an unknown amount of time - possibly centuries - looking for a perfect mortal to carry on his legacy and coldly rejects anyone who shows even a moment of imperfection. Billy has spent his whole childhood looking for his biological mother and runs away from any foster home. To further highlight the parallels, both characters wear red and Billy repeats Shazam's command to say his name when he tries to bestow his powers on his foster siblings.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: Billy reacts to his "place your hand on my staff" line as if he meant in a sexual manner. It's clearly a Mythology Gag based on how the Wizard in the original series lured Billy into a dark alleyway, an aspect of Shazam's lore that has aged very poorly in light of several decades' worth of child abductions since its first publication.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: SHAZAM wants to give his powers to someone pure of heart so that the Seven Deadly Sins are kept in check, yet it is his blunt treatment of Sivana as a kid that eventually causes them to be freed.
• Not Quite Dead: He turns into dust before Billy's eyes after giving him the powers of the gods. While Billy (and the audience) assume this means he is dead, he turns out to be living in the sequel.
• Old Master: An ancient wizard who carries millenniums' worht of wisdom on top of his godly powers.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: The Wizard insists that his successor be pure of heart. This backfires on him, so he ends up settling for a cynical teenager who at that point was only slightly better than the psychotic host of the Seven Deadly Sins.
• Passing the Torch: Due to his advanced age, the Wizard Shazam must hand his powers onto someone much younger to continue his legacy.
• Photographic Memory: Thaddeus Sivana assumed Shazam wouldn't remember him considering how long ago it was when they first met and the many would-be champions he rejected over the years, but after taking a look at the man (who has aged more than 40 years by this point), Shazam recalled his name and remembered their first meeting.
• Progressively Prettier: In contrast to the other Champions who become more physically impressive when they use their powers, the Wizard's looks improve when he relinquishes them. When he reappears in Fury of the Gods, Shazam looks younger and is in better physical shape, having better posture and showing off a well-toned build.
• Race Lift: Before Flashpoint the Wizard was from Canaan. In the New 52 he's implied to be of indigenous Australian heritage then retconned into being from Khandaq. Djimon Hounsou is of Beninese^note West African descent, and while his character intervenes in Khandaq's affairs, it's still ambiguous where he's supposed to be from, and the other Wizards seem to be from all over the place.
• Really 700 Years Old: He's been around since Ancient Egypt at the very least.
• Recruit Teenagers with Attitude: Shazam focused on children in the hopes of finding someone pure of heart. When that failed, he settled on the moody and rebellious Billy Batson. Billy would then extend his powers towards his foster siblings, at least two of whom are also teenagers.
• Retcon: The SHAZAM! movie implies his name is Shazam, but Black Adam implies that "Shazam" is his title due to being the last remaining Wizard.
• Say My Name: He orders Billy to do this, triggering his first transformation.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: By necessity, since he didn't have time to properly train his champion even if he'd wanted to. He grants Billy the powers of six mythical entities with little explanation, and can only trust that he will do the right thing and be a hero in the end.
• Super-Empowering: The wizard Shazam bequeaths his power to Billy right before dying.
• Too Desperate to Be Picky: Billy Batson becomes the inheritor of the Wizard's powers not because he was proven worthy, but because Shazam is about five minutes away from dying and Dr. Sivana had just gotten the power of the Seven Deadly Sins, so he needs a new holder that his spell deems potentially worthy right away, regardless of whether or not Billy is truly fit for the position.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Shazam is much less grouchy in Fury of the Gods, providing Billy with words of encouragement which reveal he's overcome his lofty standards from the first film and accepted that having a less than pure heart doesn't stop one from being a hero.
• Unreliable Narrator: The Wizard blames himself and the rest of the council for choosing recklessly. In truth, they did choose the right person to be their Champion on the first try, but unbeknownst to them, he shared his power with his father, creating Black Adam. When Hurut died, Black Adam went on a rampage and the Council of Wizards were under the assumption Hurut went mad with power.
• Wizard Beard: His beard is quite short compared to most wizards in popular culture, but he's still recognizable as one.
• Wizard Classic: Wizard Beard, Magic Staff, unnaturally old, billowing robes and his role is to mentor a youth. What else could he be?
• Wizards Live Longer: He was already elderly when young Thad Sivana first met him and was still living over 40 years later (albeit nearing the end of his lifespan). As one of the original wizards who sealed away Black Adam, he's easily several thousand years old.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: He delivers this speech to Billy in Fury of the Gods:
  "Billy, everyone can be worthy if given a chance. Now go fight for your family. Go fight for the world."

Champions

Champions in General

• All Your Powers Combined: A singular entity blessed with the gifts of six legendary figures.
• Boots of Toughness: All of the Champions wear metallic boots. Mary has the tallest boots among her siblings as it nearly goes up to her knees while Darla has the shortest as they reach her mid-calf.
• Chest Insignia: All of the champions have a lightning bolt as their insignia.
• Clingy Costume: Implied. Nobody who has inherited the powers of SHAZAM has ever been seen removing any part of their costumes. Played for laughs when Billy Batson has to use the toilet and changes back into his normal self just because his regular clothes are removable.
• Costume Evolution: Each wielder of the magic bears a suit with a lightning bolt, but some suits are uniquely tailored to fit the various eras they belong to.
  • The Wizard's suit resembles a tunic, befitting his ancient (possibly pre-historic) nature.
  • Black Adam's suit has armored gauntlets, fitting his warrior background. His initial outfit was a simple white skirt with gold accessories, but it changed into black spandex when he went berserk. It later gains gold accents and a black cape.
  • The new generation (Billy Batson and the Marvel Family) wear suits that resemble the modern superhero outfit, specifically Superman. Mary's outfit has a skirt and Darla's outfit has trousers and sleeves (and later wings on the shotes). Their outfits would later become darker and more metallic, with Mary's in particular bearing some resemblance to Wonder Woman's.
• Dual Age Modes: A common element among the younger Champions that was introduced in the New 52, which deviated from the original telling in which Mary and Freddy retained their teenage appearance while powered-up. Teth-Adam is an exception due to already being an adult when he was empowered. Mary later retains her civilian appearance when she powers up.
• Fastest Thing Alive: The champions inherit the speed of Mercury. Downplayed, as they're not shown displaying the time-bending powers that come from using the Speed Force.
• Fun with Acronyms: The word SHAZAM is formed from six gods.
  • The Wizard Shazam tells Billy that he is empowered by the mythic beings Zeus, Atlas, Achilles, Hercules, and Mercury.
  • In ancient Kahndaq, the champion was empowered by Egyptian deities: Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aten and Mehen.
• Gold-Colored Superiority: Befitting their champion epithet, their outfits all have gold accents.
• Henshin Hero: The transformation into the champion is invoked by shouting "SHAZAM!". Played for laughs with Billy Batson, who changes regardless of how he says it. It later shows a very tragic example with Hurut, who reverts back when he teaches the word to his father and is instantly shot by an archer.
• Heroes Fight Barehanded: Due to having the strength of Hercules and Zeus’ power to shoot lighting bolts, none of them need weapons to fight. The Wizard is the only exception, using his magic staff to combat Dr Sivana.
• Immune to Bullets: Thanks to the stamina of Atlas, only magic can harm the Champion.
• Kryptonite Factor: Eternium can harm Champions as easily as kryptonite harms kryptonians.
• Lightning Bruiser: A result of combining the speed of Mercury with the strength of Hercules.
• Made of Iron: Mortal weapons are completely useless against them. They are however vulnerable to eternium, which has magical properties.
• Magic Is a Monster Magnet: The wizards and their champions have an age-old feud with the Seven Deadly Sins. When the last of the wizards bestows his powers onto Billy Batson, the Sins immediately sense this and command Dr Sivana to deal with the new Champion.
  • In Fury of the Gods the Daughters of Atlas are driven entirely by their desire to take the powers of the Champion from mortals, leading to a cataclysm in Philadelphia.
• Magic Must Defeat Magic: Dr Sivana says as much during his first bout with Billy, as neither can be harmed with non-magical weapons. So far the only things that are shown to tarnish the Champion's outfit are eternium and dragon's breath.
• Nerves of Steel: The Courage of Achilles. Billy Batson apparently needed time to tap into this power, as seen in his first fight with Doctor Sivana. His foster siblings are much more receptive to this trait, as they fearlessly take on the Seven Sins despite not being able to destroy them even after they gain the powers of SHAZAM.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: The Council of Wizards were gifted with long lifespans that would necessitate superhuman durability and the Champions can only be harmed through supernatural means.
• Older Alter Ego: Quoting Shazam the Wizard, the kids are aged up to their full potential when they transform.
• Physical God: The champion embodies the power of Zeus and the speed of Mercury, with Hercules being a demigod and Atlas being a titan.
• Shock and Awe: Lightning is the general source of the Shazam power.
• Super-Empowering: The Wizard and Billy Batson are both able to bestow their powers onto others through the Wizard's staff at no cost to themselves. Hurut wasn't so lucky.
• Useless Without Powers: So far every person that's gained the powers of SHAZAM has been an ordinary human.
• World's Strongest Man: The champions have the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas and the power of Zeus, making them very dangerous in a fight.

The First Champion (spoilers for Black Adam)

Hurut

"If we had more heroes, then maybe our freedom wouldn't be a dream."

^{Click here to see Hurut as Champion} "With my powers...you'll be safe."

Species: Human

Citizenship: Kahndaqi

Affiliation(s): Council of Wizards

Played by: Jalon Christian (default form), Uli Latukefu (Champion form)

Appearances: Black Adam - The Justice Society Files | Black Adam

"My son dreamt of a better world, that’s why he saved me. But the world was only a better place with him in it."

—Black Adam

The son of Teth-Adam. Fed up with living in slavery, Hurut defied the authority of the Kahndaqi empire, which earned him a death sentence. His noble heart was recognised by the Council of Wizards, who transformed him into the original Champion who would bring justice to the world.

---

• Adaptational Badass: In the comics Hurut was never empowered.
• Casting Gag: His Champion form is played by Uli Latukefu, who played Dwayne Johnson in Young Rock.
• Children Are Innocent: He loved his parents dearly and had a strong sense of justice.
• Composite Character: With Adam's nephew Aman from the New 52 continuity, who was chosen for the SHAZAM powers and shared them with Teth-Adam before he died.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Unlike Billy Batson who grew up in a more civilized time, was estranged from his parents and developed a jaded outlook on life, Hurut lived in slavery, had a good relationship with his parents and was a Wide-Eyed Idealist.
• Decoy Protagonist: The film at first implies that Hurut is Black Adam. Nope, while he was the first Champion, he passed his powers on to his father, the true protagonist, to save his life.
• Defiant to the End: Hurut shows an incredible amount of courage when he's about to be publicly executed. As the executioner raises his blade, the boy holds his hands up in the Kahndaqi sign of freedom. This alerts the Council of Wizards, who teleport him to safety and reward him with superpowers.
• Foil: Hurut serves as a contrast to Thaddeus Sivana. While Sivana grew up in the Free World (with alternate takes revealing his family were rich) and had every reason to hate his father, Hurut lived in squalor and was very close to Teth-Adam. Sivana was easily tempted and cared only about getting what he wanted, while Hurut had a strong character and wanted to help others.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Seeing his father near death, he bestows his powers...and seconds later is killed off by archers.
• Hero of Another Story: He had many victories as the Champion before assassins were sent after his family.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: In SHAZAM! the audience was led to believe that the first Champion was corrupted by their power, but as Black Adam reveals, Hurut never succumbed to any temptations, his last action being to share his power with his fatally wounded father.
• Kid Hero: He served as the Champion while only being a boy.
• Kill the Cutie: He was killed after bestowing his powers onto his father, which broke Teth-Adam and filled him with a hatred of humanity.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Adam says that the world was only good when Hurut was in it.
• Mirror Character: He's a greater parallel to Billy Batson than Teth-Adam is. Both had unfortunate childhoods that compelled them to break the rules in order to get by, both were chosen to be champion at a young age and both bestowed their powers onto family members. The main difference is that Billy was able to use the Staff of Shazam to empower his family members without having to lose his powers, but Hurut had no idea of this knowledge and gave up his powers for his father...only to be killed off seconds later.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The poor boy is practically cursed to suffer every time he does something noble. Standing up for the slaves earned him a death sentence. Saving his father's life by bestowing his powers onto him left Hurut open to a sneak attack from an archer. And then, the act of saving his father led to Black Adam going on a rampage that ended with millions dead and him destroying all but one of the Council of Wizards before being sealed away from causing even more damage. The only positive that came from his heroics was the statue made in his honor.
• A Rotten Time to Revert: When Hurut told Teth-Adam to say "Shazam" so that they might share his power, Hurut reverted back to his regular self. Neither he nor Teth-Adam were aware that a team of archers were waiting for this opportunity.
• Sadly Mythtaken: In-universe. The Council of Wizards and the people of Kahndaq falsely assumed that Hurut and Black Adam were one and the same since Hurut's empowered form makes him look just like his dad. This meant that Hurut's nobler qualities were eclipsed by his father's Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Shrouded in Myth: As Black Adam later reveals, the Champion of Kandaq was Hurut this whole time, with Adam gaining his powers and causing all the trouble that convinced the Council of Wizards that they chose the wrong person.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Once empowered, Hurut is a near-spitting image of Teth-Adam. So much so that everybody confused them for the same person.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Willing to stand up for his people and create a symbol for them to rebel, became a heroic Champion and was willing to share his powers with his father to save his life. This last act gets him killed.

Black Adam

Teth-Adam / Black Adam

"I was a slave until I died. Then I was reborn a god. Now, I kneel before no one."

^{Click here to see Mighty Adam} "My powers are not a gift, but a curse."

Species: Empowered human

Citizenship: Kahndaqi

Portrayed By: Dwayne Johnson, Benjamin Patterson (body double as Teth-Adam)

Voiced By: Gerardo Vásquez (Latin-American Spanish dub), Garcia Júnior (Brazilian Portuguese dub), Taiten Kusunoki (Japanese dub)

Appearances: SHAZAM! (magical hologram) | Black Adam - The Justice Society Files | Black Adam

"Kahndaq needed a hero. Instead, it got me. All this power... and the only thing I can do with it is hurt people."

Teth-Adam was originally a slave from the ancient civilization of Kahndaq who gained the powers of SHAZAM. But unlike Billy Batson, Black Adam proceeded to use his powers for vengeance, leading the Council to imprison him in a tomb and raise their standards for future Champions. When Adrianna Tomaz investigated his tomb in the 21st Century, she would reawaken Black Adam.

---

• '90s Anti-Hero: An overly muscular man wearing a Darker and Edgier take on a superhero suit whose sense of justice was fuelled by the death of his loved ones. He feels no hesitation when it comes to killing villains, but has enough decency to hold back when it comes to heroes and innocents.
• Abdicate the Throne: After killing SABBAC, Adam sits on the throne that is seemingly meant for him... and then chooses to destroy it because he feels it would be "wrong" for him (and anyone else) to rule Kahndaq.
• Actor Allusion: Dwayne Johnson took his trademark Smoldering Fascinating Eyebrow from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle with him as Teth-Adam, and tries to charm a merchant into selling him an extra apple in a flashback from Black Adam - The Justice Society Files.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Black Adam in the comics has stereotypically villainous features such as a hook nose, widow's peak, high cheekbones, sharp-tipped ears and a pointed chin. Here he's played by Dwayne Johnson, whose looks are very much of the Gentle Giant variety.
• Adaptational Hairstyle Change: In the comics, Black Adam styles his dark hair in a buzz cut with a Villainous Widow's Peak, but here he is bald.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the comics, Black Adam was unambiguously evil for quite a number of years before he started to develop any sense of compassion and even then he was far from a nice guy. Here he's shown to be a genuinely heroic figure despite what he believes about himself.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the New 52 comics, he killed Aman to steal the entirety of his nephew’s power. Here his son (who acts in Aman’s role from the comics) was killed by an archer much to his father’s horror.
• Afraid of Their Own Strength: Normally averted as Adam regularly employs his inhuman strength to its full potential and doesn't care about collateral damage. Things change after he almost kills Amon while trying to stop Ishmael from killing him. It is then that Adam chooses to give up his powers and be put in stasis.
• Alternate Self: He has one on Earth-Prime as Khem-Adam.
• Anti Anti Christ: In spite of his intimidating appearance and his reputation for unleashing chaos, Black Adam is instrumental in stopping a greater threat than himself and hailed as a savior by his people.
• Anti-Hero Substitute: As it's later revealed, Black Adam was a substitute for his son Hurut, the original Champion who displayed a far more idealistic attitude towards heroism.
• Anti-Villain: His rampage in Kahndaq was horrifying enough that the Council of Wizards imprisoned him for it, and Adam himself admits that his actions were mostly motivated by vengeance. However, he only developed that violent streak due to the injustices he and many others endured at the hands of Kahndaq's tyrannical ruler, and his rampage was mainly targeted at said tyrant.
  "Five thousand years ago, Kahndaq was a melting pot of cultures, wealth, power, and magic. Yet most of us had nothing, except for the chain around our necks."
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He's hailed as a god-king by the people of Kahndaq for delivering justice. Interestingly enough, Adam has no wish to be a ruler. When he sits on the throne of Kahndaq, he expresses distaste and blows the throne to pieces.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: The movie concludes with Black Adam sitting on the throne of the Kandaqi king, casually raising his left hand as a Mythology Gag to his signature pose in the comics. Then Black Adam decides he's not interested in sitting on the seat of his oppressors and destroys the throne.
• Badass Boast: He's fond of dishing these out.
  • The first two teasers end with Black Adam throwing his weight around.
    "I give you my word — no-one will ever stop me again."
  • When the Justice Society approach him:
    Dr. Fate: You have two choices: kneel or die.
    Black Adam: I was a slave until I died. Then I was reborn a god. I kneel before no one.
    (later)
    Hawkman: We're here to negotiate your peaceful surrender.
    Black Adam: I'm not peaceful. Nor do I surrender.
  • In The Stinger he tells Amanda Waller there's nobody on Earth who can stop him. When Waller says she'll just call beings from other planets who could, Adam tells her to send them all.
• Badass Cape: Black Adam's suit gains a cape upon choosing to be a hero.
• Badass Normal: When depowered and gagged, Adam plows through a series of armed guards with nothing but muscle and determination.
• Bald of Authority: He is bald in this adaptation unlike in the comic. At the end of his film, Black Adam is given the choice to be Kahndaq's ruler, which he rejects.
• Bald Head of Toughness: First, Black-Adam is played by The Rock, the very embodiment of this trope in Hollywood. Second, he is a Physical God on roughly equal footing with Superman, at least according to his actor. Given both are capable of taking on four metahumans at once, that's a pretty accurate measurement of his strength.
• Birds of a Feather: Adam and Adrianna have numerous things in common, such as their unscrupulous view of justice, a murdered spouse and a headstrong son. While the two aren't confirmed to be lovers by the end of his debut film, the potential is definitely there.
• Black Cloak: While Wizard-Shazam wears bright red, his contemporaries wear various other colors and the Champions in Philadelphia all wear white, Black Adam wears a black mantle with a gold trim. It gets destroyed during his attack on Intergang, but it's eventually replaced with a cape.
• Black Knight: Doctor Fate considers him fitting for this role in situations where clear good isn't effective enough.
• Blatant Lies: Doctor Fate points out that Black Adam's attempt at sarcasm falls short and just makes him look dishonest. When Adam sends and Intergang agent flying to his death, Doctor Fate asks Adam if he interrogated the man first. Adam gives a suspiciously long pause, hears his victim hit the ground very hard, then tells Doctor Fate "he didn't make it".
• Both Sides Have a Point: He is not without his valid points in his conflict with the Justice Society, as his lethal and merciless approach to fighting evildoers ends up being far more effective and helpful to the people of Kahndaq than anything the JSA has ever done. Hawkman even relents and encourages him to kill SABBAC when he proves too strong to be merely subdued. At the same time, Adam is convinced by Carter to spare the life of an enemy so that he can extract information from him, and recognizes that this approach has its advantages.
• Brought Down to Badass: After almost killing Amon by accident, Black Adam finally relents and willingly depowers himself. At his own request he's gagged and put in stasis. But when SABBAC is unleashed and Doctor Fate wakes him up again, Teth-Adam charges through several armed guards like they were made of cardboard, all the while still gagged so that he can't call on his powers.
• Bullet Catch: Black Adam demonstrates his finesse by grabbing a bullet with his fingertips. Keep in mind that those blessed with the powers of Shazam are naturally resistant to gunfire.
• Bully Hunter: In one of the teaser trailers, Black Adam says that he has a knack for destroying bullies. Throughout his own film, he kills and maims anyone who either picks a fight with him or threatens someone that can't fight back.
• Byronic Hero: Black Adam is haunted by the memories of his family being killed and is consumed by anger. Nevertheless, he's inclined to fight on the side of justice, even if he doesn't give it the best image.
• Cannot Convey Sarcasm: After being informed of sarcasm, Adam makes two attempts to be sarcastic himself. The first time comes across as Blatant Lies, and the second time, only Doctor Fate manages to notice that he was being sarcastic at all.
• Character Catchphrase: Amon tells Adam he should say "Tell them the Man in Black sent you" right before killing his enemies. It takes awhile for Black Adam to get it right.
• Civilization Destroyer: As he grieved over his son's death and sought revenge, Adam unleashed a wave of explosive energy that decimated ancient Kahndaq. The Wizard states that millions died during his rampage.
• Cold Ham: Black Adam's emotional range alternates between stoic and Tranquil Fury, but he manages to come across as melodramatic no matter what due to how seriously he takes himself.
• Color Character: Black Adam.
• The Comically Serious: Black Adam maintains a perpetually grim disposition despite being ignorant of the new world he finds himself in, which leads to several instances where he makes a fool of himself.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Throughout his film, he goes primarily by his given name Teth-Adam. He doesn't accept the moniker of Black Adam until the final scene before the credits, and isn't directly referred to as such until The Stinger.
• Composite Character: An in-universe historical example; history conflates Teth-Adam with his son Hurut, who was originally the champion chosen by the Council of Wizards and Kahndaq's true hero. The reality is that once Adam got his powers, he went on a murderous rampage to avenge his murdered son and wife, losing control of his powers and destroying much of Kahndaq in the process. Upon awakening in the present day, Adam apologizes to the statue that stands to honor Kahndaq's champion, regretting both history's error and having failed to save his son.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
  • Whereas Billy is a young orphan who uses his powers for fun when he gains the powers of Shazam, Adam is a family man that uses his powers to destroy those who have wronged him. Billy gained his powers from an old man, while Adam gained his powers from his pre-adolescent son.
  • Black Adam also contrasts Peacemaker. Both are brutal macho men with a Dark and Troubled Past and gradually develop a conscience. But while Peacemaker was a garishly-dressed blowhard who disrespects his own allies and has a troubled relationship with his father, Black Adam wears a dull costume, rarely emotes and had a healthy relationship with his son.
• Creepy Blue Eyes: Adam's normally dark eyes glow a light, electric blue when he overcharges or loses control of his powers, and the devastating power he wields makes such moments terrifying to all around him.
• Cursed with Awesome: He considers his powers a curse due to gaining them from Hurut, who was depowered the moment he told his father the magic word that would empower him, leaving Hurut open to a sneak attack from an archer.
• The Cynic: Even before the death of his son broke him inside, Teth-Adam didn't put much faith in Hurut's ideals of freedom and liberation and believed them to be a lost cause. As he put it then, freedom was for the birds, not for hopeless slaves like him and his family.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the Wizard and Billy Batson, Black Adam provides a stark contrast. He grew up in slavery, succumbed to his wrath once empowered and his costume looks charred and sinister rather than bright and shining like the outfits of other champions.
• Dark Is Not Evil: A brooding, violent demigod clad in black who nonetheless only poses a threat to those who need to be stopped.
• Death Glare: Black Adam looks like he is staring into everyone's souls at Smoldering Intensity levels.
• Deity of Human Origin: At least from his point of view, he IS a Physical God, who was once a man that died as a slave. Unlike the current Champions, his powerset came entirely from gods rather than a mixture of gods and exceptional mortals.
• Destructive Savior: His fights against evildoers through the streets of Kahndaq usually involve lots of destroyed buildings and other sorts of property damage, to which he shows little concern. On a more personal and lower-scale level, he almost kills Amon while trying to save him from Ishmael and his goons. This is what convinces Adam that he can't be trusted to save anybody.
• Determinator: As the guards at ARGUS learned the hard way, an unpowered and gagged Teth-Adam is a juggernaut in his own right when he wants to be. Not only he plows through multiple armed guards, he later swims shirtless through arctic waters all the way to the surface- and survives it!
• Early-Bird Cameo: The Wizard Shazam projects a magical holographic vision of the past to Billy in Shazam!. It shows the ancient champion who was chosen by the Council of Wizards (Black Adam) and the devastation he caused, albeit he's not named.
• Establishing Character Moment: Upon being awakened, Black Adam murders the first person he sees with zero provocation. When he attracts the attention of several armed mercenaries, Black Adam massacres them all. Turns out there's a very good reason the Wizard sealed him away and imposed strict standards on potential successors. Additionally, his Bullet Catch and Immune to Bullets establish that he's Strong and Skilled. However, he does protect Adrianna and Karim from the chaos, showing he isn't a total monster and he can distinguish combatants from non-combatants.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Adam had a wife and son back when he was a slave. The death of both is what made him so bitter and violent.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Black Adam is absolutely merciless to his enemies, slaughtering them in a variety of brutal and painful ways, but he goes out of his way to avoid harming innocent people, willingly surrendering himself to A.R.G.U.S. custody when he loses control of his powers and nearly kills Adrianna and Amon.
  • When challenged by the Justice Society, he doesn't kill any of them, and is later willing to hear them out after some convincing from Adrianna.
  • Adam is willing to let it be up to Adrianna whether to hand over SABBAC's crown to Ishmael, as it's her son being threatened. He even stops Hawkman from interfering.
• Evil Costume Switch: Teth-Adam was originally shirtless, with the lightning emblem hanging akin to a giant pendant from a neck piece. When his son was killed, Adam's costume changed to a all-encompassing black bodysuit with dull metal accessories. Later inverted when Black Adam decides to become a hero, causing his costume to gain a cape and the metallic parts to turn gold.
• Famed In-Story: Subverted. The exploits of the Champion of Kahndaq are common knowledge in the country during modern times and there is even a statue in his honor. However, it is later revealed that this legendary hero was not Teth-Adam, but his son Hurut. Adam's story of revenge and destruction is known only by him and later by Adrianna.
• Fire-Forged Friends: "Friends" may be too strong a word, but Adam starts out at odds with the Justice Society, especially Hawkman, given their very different ideals and Adam's uncontainable power, but by the end of the film, they've come to understand and respect one another and depart on good terms.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: A few jokes are made about Adam struggling to acclimate to the 21st century. He's baffled by the existence of mirrors and he blows up a television because he assumed Clint Eastwood was picking a fight with him. When he enters a room by blasting through a wall, Doctor Fate snarks that they must not have had any doorways back in his day (though Adam replies that they did, implying that breaking through walls is just how Adam prefers to enter a room).
• Flash Step: In his initial fight with the Intergang thugs Adam flies with tremendous speed from one enemy to another in a manner that looks like he is teleporting across the scenery.
• Flying Brick: He flies very fast and is very durable.
• Foil: To Carter Hall; they're both powerful warriors, but where Hawkman considers himself a hero, Adam rejects the notion that he is one. Carter uses his Nth metal weapons to fight, while Adam relies on his superpowers. Carter leads a team of heroes, while Adam can barely even cooperate with others, much less lead them. Most importantly, Carter sees the world in terms of good and evil and refuses to kill where he can avoid it; Adam, on the other hand, doesn't concern himself with such distinctions, destroying wrongdoers without mercy.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: A former slave who ended up becoming a Champion using his powers to rampage against the tyrannical regime of Kahndaq.
  "I was a slave until I died. Then I was reborn a god."
• A God Am I: Downplayed; Adam explicitly describes himself as a god to Hawkman, but he phrases it as a simple statement of fact rather than an arrogant boast or delusion of grandeur. Adam doesn't expect people to worship or even like him, and given the chance to rule Kahndaq as a God-Emperor, he gives the matter due thought before deciding against it.
• The Ghost: Black Adam is only referenced through story in Shazam!, specifically as the reason the wizards do not choose champions quite so carelessly. As it turns out, the figure the Wizard alluded to was actually a composite of Teth-Adam and Hurut.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Adam's eyes glow bright blue when he's charging up a storm.
• Gold-Colored Superiority: Once Black Adam chooses to be a hero, his boots, belt and armwraps turn bright gold, with his emblem glowing brighter than before.
• Good All Along: What the Wizard said about him back in SHAZAM! made it seem like Black Adam's awakening would be catastrophic for everyone. As it turns out, Black Adam ends up saving far more people than he endangers and he expresses no real urge to cause any trouble, provided everyone stays out of his way.
• Good Costume Switch: Black Adam's appearance in the current day is largely black and the lightning bolt insignia is faded. He has not renounced the power for millennia, but recalls his powers with the Shazam call and placed in prison. He was then released by Dr. Fate to face Sabbac. When he calls out Shazam again, his costume gains vibrant gold boots, belt and wrist cuffs, and his lightning bolt insignia has filled back in, signifying the evolution from an angry monster into a more heroic figure.
• Good is Not Nice: He waits for the Justice Society to arrive before sending two of his hostages plummeting to almost certain death. When Hawkman accuses him of attempted murder, Black Adam states that he was courteous enough to wait for them to arrive before endangering their lives because he was willing to give their non-lethal approach a try.
• Good Parents: In Black Adam - The Justice Society Files, he was shown as an understanding and protective father to his son, hoping for a better future for his family.
• Handwraps of Awesome: Unlike the Wizard, Billy or his siblings who all wear gold bands on their forearms, Black Adam wears metallic bandages. They turn to gold once Adam decides to become a hero.
• Heroes' Frontier Step: After being muzzled and put in stasis, Teth-Adam is called on Doctor Fate to save the world. Adam then fights his way out of the bunker, all the while unable to transform into his powered form. He successfully makes it to the ocean and tears off his muzzle, only to black out from exhaustion and hypothermia. As he reaches the afterlife and sees his family, Teth-Adam tells them he can't die just yet because their people are counting on him. Through this incredible act of courage, determination and compassion, Black Adam is reborn with a more heroic outfit.
• Heroic Build: Teth-Adam was quite muscular (albeit smaller than Dwayne Johnson) even before he became a champion, no doubt due to years of manual labor.
• Hero's Evil Predecessor: Black Adam was the last person to wield the power of SHAZAM until Billy Batson was chosen. Unlike Billy, he used his powers to go on an all-out rampage. Downplayed in that he's not so much a villain as just violently intolerant of those who wrong him and the people he cares about.
• A Hero to His Hometown: Despite being seen as a dangerous threat to outsiders like Amanda Waller and the Justice Society, Teth-Adam is revered as a hero and a savior by the people of Kahndaq due to his fight against the Intergang. They loudly boo the superhero team and demonstrate support towards Adam.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Black Adam draws the line at harming kids and innocent bystanders. He also warms up to the Tomaz family and respects Doctor Fate, despite not outwardly expressing so.
• High-Altitude Interrogation: Two mooks receive this from Adam. And both would splat on the ground if Hawkman didn't follow him to catch them mid-fall. Black Adam defends this by stating that he only dropped his victims because he was certain Hawkman would catch them.
• High-Voltage Death: His first kill in the movie has him lifting a hapless Intergang thug by the neck and brutally disintegrating his body by frying the man with his lightning powers.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: In-universe; historical record conflates the vengeful Teth-Adam with his genuinely heroic son Hurut, resulting in Adam's reputation in the modern day.
• Hope Bringer: Mostly an Invoked Trope by Amon, who wants to convince everyone in Kahndaq that Adam is their savior and that his arrival would bring hope and freedom to the country. He even inspires the populace to make the same gesture Hurut - a Hope Bringer in his own right - made to the opressed slaves during Akh-Ton's reign. Adam eventually lives up to these expectations.
• Idealist vs. Pragmatist:
  • The crux of his belligerent relationship with the Justice Society (most notably with Hawkman) is the opposition between his anti-heroic willingness to get his hands dirty and kill evildoers and the JSA's straightforward insistence on not killing their enemies.
  • It's not given much focus, but this trope comes up when Adam suggests that violence should be taught to Amon, which Adrianna refuses. He wants the boy to adapt quickly to the harsh nature of Kahndaq and the world while his mother wants him to live an innocent life and disapproves of Amon getting involved with anti-Intergang resistance.
• Immune to Bullets: Upon his reawakening, several soldiers fire at him with machines guns. Black Adam is not even fazed. This is of course averted in his depowered form, as he is shot by an A.R.G.U.S guard- though that barely slows him down.
  Black Adam: [in ancient Kahndaqi] Your magic is weak.
• I'm Not a Hero, I'm...: Adam states multiple times through the movie that he is not a hero and has never claimed to be one. At the end of the movie, he tries to become a truly heroic warrior, but only refers to himself as a "protector" of Kahndaq.
• In the Hood: His cloak covers his head and gives him Creepy Shadowed Undereyes.
• Jerkass Has a Point: When he performs his High-Altitude Interrogation against a pair of Intergang mooks, he drops them and they have to be rescued by Hawkman. When Hawkman yells at him for nearly killing them, Adam retorts that he knew Hawkman was there and knew Hawkman would save them, and thus it wasn't an attempt to murder them. Dr. Fate points out he's not wrong.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Black Adam is a stern and merciless figure who rejects the authority of others (often violently) and doesn't have much respect for other people's property, but beneath all that is a dedicated protector of his people, willing to, in his own way, be polite to those who haven't incurred his wrath. Also, despite his menacing exterior, he's reasonable and can be convinced to hear people out.
• Knight in Sour Armor: A Perpetual Frowner who thinks with his fists and has no tolerance for people who invade his turf. His brutal treatment of Intergang convinces the locals that he's on their side.
• Kubrick Stare: It's practically Adam's default expression. Given his past as a slave and his outfit including a hood when he was reawakened, it's pretty much a habit formed from circumstance.
• Kryptonite Factor: It is implied that Eternium is the only thing that can harm him, seeing an Eternium-laced rocket knocked him out cold, and punching the crown of Sabbac by accident grazes his knuckles. As it is a magical element, it's the same principle behind Shazam being immune to mortal threats but vulnerable to another magic-powered villain.
• "Leave Your Quest" Test: After swimming through arctic waters and passing out from hypothermia, he ends up in an afterlife where he sees his wife and son again. Though he enjoys the moment as much as he can, Adam ultimately declines to stay with his family because he is needed to save the world from SABBAC.
• Leitmotif: Black Adam's Theme brings with it the sense of danger and glory that's integral to his journey From Nobody to Nightmare.
• Lightning Bruiser: Black Adam is so fast that he can barely be seen, so durable that nothing short of eternium or SABBAC can even slow him down, and he's so mighty that he can casually toss a grown man miles away.
• Lightning Can Do Anything: He uses his lightning powers to cauterize his Eternium-laced wounds after a rocket with the substance strikes him.
• Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition: His empowerment by the Council of Wizards granted him lightning magic, which is contrasted with Ishmael gaining domain over fire upon becoming SABBAC after being empowered by the ancient demons of Hell.
• Logical Weakness: Adam's powers are activated when he says the word "SHAZAM". Therefore, as Amanda Waller and the Justice Society analyze, getting him to say the word would depower him. The JSA's strategy to defeat him is to make Adam do just that, which he eventually does out of his full volition and without coercion.
• Made of Indestructium: He catches a rocket and suffers only mild injuries after it explodes in his hand.
• Manly Tears: Teth-Adam openly weeps when his loved ones are murdered.
• Moses Archetype: A man from the slave caste who was blessed by higher powers to liberate his people from a cruel regime, unleashing all kinds of chaos upon his oppressors.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: His first (and usually only) solution to enemy combatants is to destroy them, even when it's laughably obvious that they pose no threat to him. This is the major sticking point between Adam and Hawkman, who is much more of a traditional hero. Hawkman and Doctor Fate both point out the downsides of this practice, as keeping prisoners alive to interrogate proves fruitful, which convinces Adam to at least try and adjust his approach.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: Being played by Dwayne Johnson, Adam is large and muscular and displays the biggest amount of strength in the movie. Unlike the previous champion- his son Hurut-, he already had a Heroic Build even as a mortal and it is in this depowered state that he plows through A.R.G.U.S guards with nothing but brute force.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When Black Adam's reckless use of his power endangered Adrianna and Amon, he has a mild breakdown and finally allows Hawkman to take him into custody.
• Neck Lift: Every trailer and promo clip shows him doing this, to the point where it's practically his Signature Move.
• No Man Should Have This Power: The reason he decides to destroy the throne at the end. Though the Kahndaqi people would easily look up to him as a king, Adam believes the country should be self-sufficient and thus have no rulers of any kind. In his own words, it feels "wrong" for him to sit on the throne.
• Nominal Hero: Upon being reawakened, Adam proceeds to become a thorn in the Intergang's side as he lays waste to many of the members. He is able to tell the helpless from the aggressors, but fights out of rage rather than justice or heroism, and is initially unconcerned with Adrianna's resistance movement and desire to free Kahndaq. It's only much later that Adam chooses to become a protector of his people.
• No-Sell: An Intergang grunt tries whacking Black Adam in the head with a metal rod. Adam doesn't even flinch, but the rod is bent from the impact.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Though Teth-Adam speaks Egyptian (before suddenly learning English, possibly thanks to Adrianna summoning him by reading hieroglyphics in the English language and Wisdom of Zehutil), he speaks with the Rock's natural American accent, which stands out due to every other Kahndaqi native speaking with Middle-Eastern-sounding inflections.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Upon reawakening in the present day, he kills several members of the Intergang organization not out of belief in Adrianna's cause, but pure rage. He initially refuses to have anything to do with her vendetta against the gang, but eventually grows closer to her and her son and becomes the hero she wanted him to be.
• Not So Stoic: Despite his typically serious and unexpressive demeanor, Black Adam is certainly capable of strong emotion; he wept after his son was killed, and in the present day, his anger and concern at Amon's life being threatened drive him to lose control of his powers, just as he did when he accidentally levelled half of Kahndaq after taking his revenge for his son's murder.
• One-Man Army: Black Adam passes through Intergang's toughest without breaking a sweat.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: "I'm not peaceful, nor do I surrender". He willingly surrenders without resistance after his actions nearly got Amon killed.
• Outliving One's Offspring: The death of his son caused Black Adam to become the person he is now.
• Papa Wolf: Hurut was the most important person in Teth-Adam's life, and he was devastated upon witnessing his son's death.
• Perpetual Frowner: The vast majority of his screen time has him keep the same angry frown on his face, along with him speaking in a low and understated tone of voice. The closest he gets to smiling is when he sports a slight grin before fighting an enemy, until he finds his family in the afterlife.
• Person of Mass Destruction: The Wizard claims millions have died at the height of his anger and quest for vengeance and, indeed, he destroyed a large swath of Kahndaq when killing Akh-Ton in revenge back in 2600 BCE.
• Pet the Dog:
  • As Adrianna points out, Black Adam's first instinct upon reawakening was to butcher the soldiers that were threatening her and Karim despite having no reason to help these total strangers.
  • Likely out of parental instinct, Black Adam bonds with Amon almost instantly and is heavily invested in protecting the boy when Intergang go after him.
• Physical God: Teth-Adam has powers of divine origin. He died, got revived by the Wizard as the first Champion and became the ruler of Kahndaq. His powers include Flight, Super-Strength, Super-Speed, generating lightning (which was always considered in mythology and folklore a divine ability), and Nigh-Invulnerability.
• Power Incontinence: When he's distressed, Black Adam can unleash explosive waves of lightning.
• Race Lift: Black Adam in the comics has West Asian heritage, hailing from a country near Egypt ^note  Kahndaq is a fictional country located in the Sinai peninsula, which is also the Asian part of Egypt as it is a trans-continential country in the real world. Dwayne Johnson has Black Canadian, Samoan American, and a bit of Irish heritage, although he does not have any North African or West Asian ancestry at all. This take on Black Adam also has a darker skin tone than his comic book counterpart.
• Red Baron:
  • The "mightiest of mortals", a moniker traditionally associated with Billy Batson.
  • Amon says he should call himself "the man in black".
• Refusing Paradise: Teth-Adam comes close to death after trying to swim through arctic waters. He finds himself in an afterlife that resembles his original time period where his wife and son await him with open arms. Adam savors the moment for all it's worth, then tells his family that he can't die just yet, because their home and the greater world need his help.
• Rightful King Returns: After SABBAC is unleashed on Earth and stands against the Justice Society to sit on the throne of Kahndaq, the tide is only turned when Adam chooses to regain his powers and uses them to destroy the demon and take his place in the throne that is seemingly meant for him. Then the trope is subverted as Adam refuses to be a king and destroys the throne, ensuring no one would rule over Kahndaq again.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The murder of his family incurred the tremendous wrath of a newly-empowered Teth-Adam, who used his godly might to annilihate his oppressors without mercy, even destroying a large swath of Kahndaq in the process. He even ended up killing 6 of the 7 members of the Council of Wizards when they deemed him too dangerous to roam free, before finally being sealed away.
• Sarcasm-Blind: He doesn't understand some sarcastic remarks Kent makes towards him, and Kent has to spell it out for Adam- introducing him to the concept. He later attemps some sarcasm on his own, but it ends up being Blatant Lies instead.
• Say My Name:
  • Adrianna Tomaz unleashes Black Adam by standing in his tomb and shouting "Shazam!".
  • Amanda Waller somehow figured out that his powers can be deactivated if he says the magic word.
  • Black Adam ultimately does say it to depower himself out of guilt for almost killing Amon. When Doctor Fate calls for his aid, Adam says it once more.
• Sealed Badass in a Can:
  • He was kept dormant for 5000 years until Adrianna Tomaz summoned him due to being powerful enough to wipe out 6 wizards in battle.
  • He chooses to give up his powers and allows himself to be locked up after endangering Amon's life when trying to save him from Ishmael. He has to be muzzled so he won't say SHAZAM again and proves to be a force to be reckoned with even without his powers.
• Shadow Archetype: Black Adam is everything that his successor Billy Batson isn't; where Billy is goofy and well-meaning, reveling in the life of a superhero, Adam is stoic and doesn't consider himself a hero by any measure. Billy uses his powers for his amusement and the betterment of others, while Adam uses it to destroy those who have wronged him and harm others. The only qualities they do share are an underlying desire to do good and the source of their powers, but even then, Adam is very different; Billy was Shazam's choice to be a champion, while Adam received his powers from his son, Hurut, and where Billy takes action to protect the innocent, Adam prefers to punish the wicked.
• Shockwave Clap: Black Adam can generate intense blasts with a simple - almost gentle - clap.
• Showy Invincible Hero: Black Adam's incredible power gets quite the showing in his first appearance, where he simply allows Intergang mooks to pelt him with bullets and missiles, seemingly just to see what they feel like, before completely ignoring the onslaught to annihilate his hapless attackers.
• Sinister Silhouettes: When Adrianna Tomaz awakens Black Adam, he's wearing a thick black cloak with a hood obscuring his face. He then demonstrates how dangerous he is by grabbing one of the soldiers flanking her and frying him to death, with the rest getting absolutely massacred in quick succession.
• Smug Super: Adam's ego, like all of his emotions, is downplayed, but it's definitely there; he considers himself a Physical God whom no one on Earth can equal, but the incredible power he wields (which came from actual gods) and the ease with which he destroys most of his enemies lend considerable credibility to this belief. Hawkman even agrees with him that nothing can truly stop Black Adam other than Adam himself.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Rage-filled powerhouse he may be, but Black Adam always speaks in a coarse whisper to highlight the fact he's dead inside.
• Stock Shōnen Rival: He has this kind of relationship with Hawkman at first and there are hints that he'll form a similar rivalry with Superman. No word yet on how he'll interact with Billy Batson.
• The Stoic: In his modern day appearance, Black Adam's expression seldom changes from a scowl, and he almost never raises his voice. His shows of emotion tend to be muted, if he shows any emotion at all.
• Superheroes Wear Capes: Black Adam embracing his heroic side is illustrated when he gains a cape.
• Super-Speed: He reacts fast enough to catch a rocket with one hand.
• Super-Strength: He easily punches an airplane in mid-air while flying, causing the plane to crash. In another sequence he throws a man into the sea, hundreds of meters away.
• Super-Toughness: Machine guns don't harm him, being thrown around and destroying buildings barely cause Black Adam to react. Only eternium can harm him and even then he'll try to walk it off.
• Survivor's Guilt: Black Adam considers his powers a curse, because when an empowered Hurut tried to bestow some of them onto him by telling his father the magic word, it caused Hurut to revert back to his non-powered form, which left him vulnerable to an archer's attack. It comes up again when he lets out a burst of lightning which nearly killed Amon. Reminded of the people who suffer when he cuts loose, Black Adam finally decides to surrender.
• Takes Ten to Hold: On the receiving end of this twice by Doctor Fate, using a spell that made several copies with anywhere between three to six of which struggled to keep Adam restrained. For Fate's part, Adam was also visibly struggling to escape, and would have succeeded in both attempts had Atom Smasher not struck him down during the second try.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: When Black Adam allies with the Justice Society, he still maintains a very difficult personality around them, which is more pronounced in Hawkman's case. It's only after returning from imprisonment to fight SABBAC that he cooperates better and more respectfully with the JSA.
• There Was a Door: At first, Teth-Adam has a tendency to break through walls when other means of travel are present, for some reason. Eventually, Kent asks him if there were doors back in his time after this keeps happening for a while- and Adam confirms it!
• Too Much Alike: While neither will admit it, Black Adam and Hawkman are both brawlers at heart with a tough stance on injustice.
• Tranquil Fury: His default disposition. He always keeps an intense and angry scowl on his face and typically speaks in an understated tone of voice- even though he is burning with rage inside. This is better demonstrated when he stormed king Akh-Ton's chambers in order to kill him in revenge while displaying his usual stoic expression.
• Troll: As stern as he is, Black Adam does have an impish sense of humor. When he's holding two Intergang troops hostage, he waits for the Justice Society to get within reaching distance of him. Then he drops them and gives Hawkman a smug look. When Hawkman gets on his case for trying to kill them, Black Adam points out that he deliberately waited for them to arrive so they could save his hostages. It's clear he only acted with mercy because he knew it would agitate Hawkman.
• Übermensch: After living as a slave and losing his son, Adam swore to never again kneel before another.
• The Unchosen One: As it turns out, Teth-Adam is not the person that wizards chose to have the power of SHAZAM; his son Hurut was, but when the king tried to have their family targeted, Hurut transferred his powers to Teth-Adam in order to save his life and was subsequently killed, leading to Adam's Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• The Unfettered: Dwayne Johnson considers a defining trait of the character to be a lack of restraint.
• Unscrupulous Hero: After his Character Development, he becomes a heroic individual fighting to protect Kahndaq and its people who has no compunctions about using lethal force to do so.
• Villain Killer: He shows no mercy to those who harm others. It's the whole reason why Hawkman considers him a threat. It gets a Decon-Recon Switch when Black Adam kills Ishmael, who was counting on this so that he could get to Hell and be reborn as SABBAC, who was only thwarted when Black Adam killed him again.
• Villain of Another Story: Until the time came when he resurfaced in his own film, his bad reputation was just something of a cautionary tale for the wizards when granting people super powers.
• Villain Protagonist: When Black Adam debuts, he makes it clear that he's not someone to trifle with and the only reason he hasn't harmed any innocents is because he hasn't any reason to. The people of Kahndaq don't seem to mind his roughness, as every action he takes is of benefit to them.
• When He Smiles: Adam spends about 98% of his screentime scowling. When he does give a genuine smile after seeing his wife and son in the afterlife, it's glorious.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: After losing his family and gaining incredible power all within the same day, he went on a destructive power trip.
• Worf Had the Flu: Black Adam holds no restraint against the Intergang paramilitary as he identifies them as deserving no mercy. But there is a sense he recognizes the JSA as genuine heroes trying to do what is right, so his actions are more in self-defense and will knock them down while avoiding a killing blow.
• World's Strongest Man: Black Adam can take on four superheroes at once, which puts him in the same weight division as Superman. Indeed, Amanda Waller has to rely on none other than the Man of Steel himself to keep Black Adam in check. As all six beings that make up his powerset are gods, he might be stronger than his current successors in Philadelphia.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: After Shiruta's death and his own fatal injury, it seemed like Teth-Adam might catch a break when Hurut saved his life by sharing his powers with his father. Unfortunately, the process caused Hurut to revert back to his non-powered form just long enough for the king's assassins to kill him.
• You Don't Look Like You: Black Adam in the comics, cartoons and videogames typically looks like a tall, muscular pale, tan/light brown skinned Middle Eastern man (think Zeeko Zaki) with short black hair in a widows peak, has pointy ears, sharp cheek bones, a hooked nose and a strong jawline. He also speaks with a middle eastern accent. In this film he is at least tall, muscular and has a strong jawline. But due to Dwayne Johnson being Black-Irish Canadian and Samoan American. He is much darker skinned, he is bald, has an American accent and lacks the other features so much that fans made photoshop edits of Dwayne Johnson to make him look not only Middle Eastern but like comics Black Adam.

Billy Batson

William Joseph "Billy" Batson / Shazam

"Oh, hey, what's up? I'm a superhero."

^{Click here to see Billy's normal form}] "I can take care of myself."

Species: Empowered human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Shazam Family

Portrayed By: Zachary Levi (Shazam), Asher Angel (Billy), David Kohlsmith (4 year old Billy)

Voiced By: Masaki Suda (Mamoru Miyano in the sequel) / Megumi Ogata (Shazam / Billy, Japanese), Manuel Campuzano / Emilio Treviño (Shazam / Billy, Latin-American Spanish), Tanguy Goasdoué / Tom Trouffier (Shazam / Billy, European French), Philippe Martin / André Kasper (Shazam / Billy, Canadian French), Eduardo Drummond (Brazilian Portuguese, Billy), Léo Rabelo (Brazilian Portuguese, Shazam)

Film Appearances: SHAZAM! | SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods

Appearances in Other Media: SHAZAM! Thundercrack | Shazamily Matters | Titans^note archive footage

Billy: And that's why you don't mess with electricity!

Freddy: Catchphrases obviously aren't one of your superpowers.

Billy Batson is a teenage boy with an absent father. When he was just 4 years old, he lost his mother at an amusement park and had to be admitted into foster care. Growing up without his biological parents, Billy constantly ran away from the homes he was provided in search of his mother.

After being set up with the Vasquez family and given a chance to prove himself, Billy was chosen as the Champion of the Rock of Eternity and empowered by an ancient wizard. Now he can turn into an adult superhero with a range of powers inherited from divine beings just by saying the word "Shazam".

---

• Acquired Situational Narcissism: The rush of sheer power he gets leaves Billy a little cocky and overconfident at first, and only becomes amplified by his newfound fame as "Philly's own superhero", leading him to charge for selfies and busk by doing light shows with his hands, all while blowing off any hero duties or chances to do good deeds. Freddy calls him on it, saying he's become no different than the Bryers. It takes his new family being caught between him and Dr. Sivana for Billy to finally learn to act responsibly.
• Acting Unnatural: Whenever he tries to lie, he becomes very stiff and he doesn't know big words to describe things, which turns into a bit of a Running Gag.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: About halfway between his New 52 version, who was more snotty and cynical, and his classic version, who is more or less a pure (and younger) Cheerful Child.^note As the New 52 change was rather contentious for long-time fans, the director of the movie even took pains to assure them that Billy would not be "a huge dickhead". Instead of being rude and sullen, Billy is quiet, emotionally closed-off, and a little sarcastic for much of SHAZAM!, in part because he thinks his foster family is unnecessary and he doesn't want to get attached to people he's planning to ultimately leave behind. By the end of the movie, after learning to let go of his mother and embrace the Vasquez family, he's become a much nicer person, even leading their pre-dinner family ritual as a gesture of cooperation.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Billy's infamous cynicism in the New 52 is toned down for the film. Notably, in the comics he was outright nasty when he cruelly reminded Darla that they weren't actually siblings. In the movie, it comes across as him being Innocently Insensitive and he immediately feels bad for bumming Darla out. That being said, Billy still falls short of being pure of heart like his Golden Age incarnation, being a slave to the vices typical of a teenage boy.
• Adaptation Deviation: A big logistical weakness of changing the hero's name from Captain Marvel to Shazam is that he can't introduce himself without transforming back into Billy. The New 52 comic directly addressed this by setting up the requirement that Billy has to say the magic word "with purpose, with belief, with good intentions" to invoke the transformation and showed several times where Billy/Captain Marvel says "Shazam" without changing. The movie adaptation has, for the time being, removed that safeguard for comedic effect.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Billy has black hair in the original comics, but brown hair in the films.
• Adaptation Name Change: Zig-zagged. Billy's champion identity was originally called Captain Marvel for the vast majority of his history. Promotional material for the film follows the New 52 version in changing his name to match his catchphrase, but in the actual film the transformed Billy is never called "Shazam" himself. This is turned into a running gag as various Atrocious Aliases are proposed and even the villain only calls him the Wizard's champion.
• Age Lift: A bit older than his classic version, in keeping with the New 52 influences; by the time Shazam! begins, Billy's explicitly mentioned to be 14, while the pre-Crisis Billy was a pre-teen of indeterminate age (and, in the Golden Age, didn't even know when his own birthday was, due to being an undocumented orphan).
• All for Nothing: He spent years running away from and rejecting foster families to find his real mother... to find her not wanting to be part of his life anymore. It's at this point that Billy begins to appreciate the Vasquez foster home.
• Alliterative Name: Billy Batson. Also covers his non-powered actor, Asher Angel.
• All Men Are Perverts: Billy uses his adult form to get into a strip club...only to walk out moments later as he immediately ran out out money. When he tries to get his siblings out of the Rock of Eternity, Billy subconsciously teleports them to the same strip club, to Mary's annoyance.
• Aloof Big Brother: Subverted. He acts emotionally distant towards his foster siblings at first, but soon opens up to them. First with Freddy, as he's a superhero enthusiast who can teach Billy the ropes, then Darla when she catches him in his champion form.
• Alternate Self: Billy has one on Earth-66 and another on Earth-167.
• Animal Motif: Tigers. Billy has a tiger on his backpack as well as on the links of his cape. When he last saw his mom, he was begging her to win him a stuffed tiger at the fair. When grabbing a stuffed animal to comfort a child in the middle of the winter carnival battle, he naturally gravitates toward a tiger plushie again. Doubles as a Mythology Gag to Tawky Tawny.
• Anti-Role Model: Unlike Superman and Wonder Woman who were born with their powers and are predisposed towards hepling others, Billy is an example of what happens when just anyone can get ahold of superpowers without understanding that such a role will come with long-term issues.
• The Artful Dodger: Billy starts out an abandoned youth who relies on sneaky tactics to get around. Most notably when he tricks some policemen. His troubled upbringing also means he has no qualms about stealing one of Freddy's collector's items so he could sell it.
• Atrocious Alias: Billy makes it clear that he's not going to accept "Thundercrack" or "Captain Sparklefingers" as his moniker. He also doesn't have much respect for the name "Shazam".
• Audience Surrogate: In the mid-credits scene of Fury Of The Gods, when Billy is asked by Emilia Harcourt and John Economos to join the Justice Society of America, Billy lampshades the confusion between the Justice League and the Justice Society.
• Bad "Bad Acting": As befits a Lighter and Softer superhero work, Billy's attempts at a superhero persona come across like this instead. Quite bizarre for a youth who resorts to theft and trickery to get by.
• Bad Liar: He's really bad at telling lies, and when he's nervous he starts fumbling up his words, which only serves to give his lie away. His Shazam form has even less of a poker face.
  "Our dad's picking us up, he got held up at the, the... business!... office."
  [After transforming into Shazam] "Oh, hey, there, son! Oh, hey, there, other son that I also have that's related to that son I just passed in the hallway! I'm so sorry I'm late, I got held up at the... business... office... doin' all the work stuff."
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Shazam gets beaten up several times and thrown across concrete buildings. However, he never looks bruised or anything and even his bright white cape remains in pristine condition.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Billy spent most of his life trying to reunite with his mother. When he does, he's left disappointed.
• Big Brother Instinct: He starts having this more towards the end of the movie in wanting to protect his foster family from harm.
  • This even extends to his older sister Mary, seen when he finds out she's having second thoughts moving out of the home. Billy reassures Mary (in his own weird way) that it's okay to look out for oneself every now and then.
• Big Damn Reunion: Subverted. Billy fully expects his reunion with his mother to go like this. Unfortunately, she does not share the sentiment and even makes a point to refuse a hug from him.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Billy's basically a child profusely enjoying being a superpowerful adult, which translates into a larger-than-life public persona. This gets subverted when Dr Sivana tracks him down and give him a challenge, at which point Billy decides running and hiding is a better option.
• Break the Cutie: Downplayed, as he doesn't break down completely, but it's clear that he was on the verge of tears by the point when his biological mom tells him that she doesn't want him in her life.
• Broken Pedestal: Billy spends the entire film convinced that his mother has always been looking for him. He's devastated when he discovers that she voluntarily left him in the foster system and tells her that he's going back to his "real" family.
• Bully Hunter: Billy stands up to the Breyer Brothers in defense of Freddy, with the implication that this is why he gets chosen.
• By the Power of Grayskull!: Billy needs to say "SHAZAM!" to turn into an adult superhero. The drawback is that he can't say the word without transforming, so he's unable to refer to himself as "Shazam".
• The Cameo: Makes a brief appearance in Titans (2018) through a vision in The Multiverse.
• Car Fu: He hurls a truck at a dragon.
• Celebrity Superhero: Freddy sets up a YouTube channel documenting Billy's powerset and training, which soon goes viral and makes him a household name in Philadelphia. Billy takes advantage of this and uses his powers for busking.
• Character Catchphrase: "Holy moley." Just like in the comics. In Billy's first appearance he says it sarcastically, but later on he's shown saying it with genuine awe.
• Character Development: Fitting in with the film's Coming of Age Story, Billy's origin story has him grow from an aloof, irresponsible teen into an all-loving, idealized hero. Billy initially starts out as a loner who doesn't care much about his foster family and is more interested in abusing his superpowers for his own selfish desires. However, after getting called out by Freddy for his recklessness and encountering Dr. Sivana, Billy realizes that he needs to stop goofing around and get serious. After his foster siblings help him find his long-lost mother and learning that she abandoned him as a child, Billy realizes that he was wrong in pushing away his foster family. The final battle showcases his personal growth as he defeats Sivana by empowers his siblings and using his wits, showing that he is now an altruistic and mature hero.
• The Chew Toy: Massive amounts of the humor in SHAZAM! come from the physical mishaps of the nearly-indestructible hero.
• The Chooser of the One: At the climax of the film when Doctor Sivana captures Billy's adopted family to force Billy to transfer Shazam's powers to him, Billy realizes that the wizard Shazam also gave him the Super-Empowering ability to raise additional champions to fill the vacant seats of the Council of Wizards. Billy uses the wizard's staff to empower his siblings, and then destroys the staff to prevent Sivana from stealing their magic for himself.
• The Chosen One: Billy is chosen by Shazam the wizard to be the champion of the Council of Seven, but more because Shazam is dying and desperate than any worthiness from Billy's part. It also earns him the enmity (and envy) of Sivana, who wanted to be the Wizard's Chosen One badly before finding other ways to gain powers.
• The Chosen Zero: For centuries, the wizard Shazam has been searching for a champion to inherit his power. But after the previous champion turned evil, he instituted a test—he would only give his power to the pure of heart. Except that’s easier said than done and basically an impossible standard to force on a random child, so he keeps grabbing children, testing them, and unceremoniously dropping them back where they were after they have been found wanting. He ends up giving the power to Billy Batson because he has run out of time.
  Billy: I-I'm nobody. I don't deserve any power.
  Wizard Shazam: You are all I have.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Billy is chosen as the champion of the Council of Seven but more out of desperation than any worthiness. As a result, Billy gets the powers of a superhero without having any drive to do good. Thus he displays cockiness and arrogance about his superpowers, uses his adult form to illegally buy alcohol and go to a strip club, and even shows off to earn money from amused bystanders. Worse, he flees in front of Dr. Sivana, showing some human cowardice too.
• Clingy Costume: Billy lampshades the difficulty in wearing a superhero outfit and having to use a toilet. Luckily he's able to get past this by just changing forms.
• Closest Thing We Got: After Sivana claims the powers of the Seven Deadly Sins himself, the Wizard Shazam admits that Billy is "all he has" now despite not being able to formally test his purity of heart. While it's not known if he would have passed had Wizard Shazam been able to test him, the end where he defeats the Seven Deadly Sins and holds the Eye of Sin without even being slightly tempted by them shows that he's grown into a champion worthy of his power.
• Color-Coded Characters: His usual jacket is red, which literally reflects in his Shazam tights.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Played With as nobody ever calls Billy "Captain Marvel" or even "Shazam", justified since he's very new to the superhero game and hasn't had the time to iron out a name. However, Freddie does try a few nicknames, one of which being the "Red Cyclone" which somewhat sticks.
• Composite Character: Mainly based on the classic lighthearted Cape we all know and love, but some inspiration of making him cynical at first due to his upbringing were lifted from the New 52. This is reflected in his costume, in that there's a minor New 52 influence with his hood, but it still looks classic to the point where it could be considered retro.
• Conspicuous Trenchcoat: At one point Billy carries around a trenchcoat so he can use his superhero form to pass for an adult.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To almost all the previous DCEU heroes thus far:
  • He is most notably a contrast to Superman. While Clark is serious, reserved and takes his powers very seriously, Billy is goofy, outgoing and treats his powers as a joke at first. Clark had powers from birth while Billy received them in his adolescence. Clark came from a loving family in Kansas while Billy is from Philadelphia and has been bounced around foster homes his entire life. Clark is an idealist while Billy is far more cynical. And while Clark's arc revolves around learning to accept being Superman and becoming more laid-back, Billy's arc involves becoming more serious minded and seeing his powers as a responsibility as well as something to enjoy.
  • To Batman. Bruce has no powers while Billy is near to Superman levels. Bruce grew up extremely wealthy while Billy has been homeless or in foster care for much of his life. Bruce operates in the shadows while Billy loves the spotlight. Bruce usually deals with street level crime while Billy handles bigger threats and disasters. Bruce is an adult who has been crimefighting for decades while Billy is a teenager who only just received his powers.
  • To Diana. Diana is a mystical being from an island hidden away from mankind while Billy was an average child from Philadelphia who has lived in poverty his entire life. Diana has been trained in combat and to use her powers since birth and grew up in luxury as a princess while Billy is only just learning to handle his powers. Diana is kind, compassionate and idealistic while Billy is gruff, self-centered and cynical. Diana learns to reconnect with humanity after experiencing loss while Billy learns to trust others and be part of a family.
  • To Aquaman. Arthur has known of his powers since childhood and had training with Vulko while Billy has had to figure things out largely on his own. Arthur has a very close and loving relationship with his father and while both their mother's abandoned them, Atlanna did so only under duress and hated doing so while Marilyn did so by choice and while she did so because she thought it was best for Billy, she isn't implied to have felt much regret afterward. while Billy never knew his own. Arthur operates mostly in water and isn't comfortable in the spotlight while Billy eagerly embraces the fame his powers bring him. Arthur is heir to a vast kingdom and takes that role very seriously while Billy is on his own and treats his powers as a joke at first. Arthur has a close personal connection to Orm, being his half-brther, while Billy and Sivana have no connection beyond being chosen.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Billy was separated from his mother when he was three and spent all of his life looking for her, while also getting in trouble with the law and ditching all of the foster families who were happy to take him in. Gets worse when he learns his mother willingly abandoned him.
• Defrosting Ice King: He starts off as rather distant towards his foster siblings, though he eventually grows to appreciate them after realizing that they are his true family.
• Delusions of Parental Love: Billy spends most of his life running away from his various foster homes in search for his biological mother because he believes that she's likewise worried sick looking for him. When he finally finds her, he expects her to be ecstatic to see him, and that they'd be a happy family once again. However, his mother gives him the cold shoulder, and reveals that she had deliberately abandoned Billy all those years ago, and that she wants nothing to do with him now.
• Demoted to Extra: Played with. Billy himself is still the main character, of course, but spends almost all of his screentime as Shazam, to the point that Asher Angel playing his teenage form is in the movie for well under ten minutes total.
• Destructive Savior: Billy causes quite a bit of property damage due to his reckless behaviour, though the damage he causes is more due to childish antics than any collateral damage during heroics.
  • Even minus Billy's initial irresponsibility, the magic lightning here acts much more like real lightning, and worse; while most versions can have Billy harmlessly summon it indoors to transform, the bolt in this continuity will go through anything and everything inanimate to reach him. When he carelessly says "Shazam" in Darla's bedroom, it burns a fist-sized hole in the ceiling through the roof, and knocks out power to the whole house.
  • Averted for his actual heroics since the battle against Dr. Sivana doesn't cause as much destruction as two beings of their powers could make (it helps that he's got his foster siblings to back him up). At worst, a Christmas fair is partially thrashed.
• Determinator: He did whatever it takes to see his mother again, whether it's breaking the law or ditching his foster families. He's been doing this for the past ten years. All of that has been revealed for nothing as he realizes that his mother never wanted him in the first place.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: "Hahahaha! I just threw a truck at a dragon! I love my life!"
• Die or Fly: Billy doesn't figure out how to fly (or teleport) as easily as he figures out his other powers. It isn't until Dr Sivana drags him into the sky and drops him to his apparent death that Billy's flying ability kicks in to save his life.
• Dirty Coward: Billy was initially this as he tried to run away from Dr. Sivana, in which even Sivana calls him out for. He gets better at the climax, though.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Billy is ecstatic at being able to punch through concrete but runs into trouble like ripping open his school bag and nearly killing a mugger accidentally. Billy also has trouble with his Shock and Awe powers; not only does he destroy one man's phone while charging it but he nearly gets a bus people filled with people killed with one careless lightning bolt.
• Does Not Like Spam: As Shazam, he alongside Freddy learn the hard way that alcohol is an acquired taste for a reason. After trying one drink, they spit it out in disgust and buy tons of candy, crackers and soda instead.
• Dual Age Modes: A teenage boy who can turn into an adult superhero.
• Embarrassing Nickname: He gets a few of these from Freddy within the space of one night.
• Endearingly Dorky: Fittingly for a fourteen year old boy discovering godlike powers. Billy jumps up and down laughing like a maniac as he learns his powers, awkwardly attempts to seem heroic when stopping crimes and attempts to use a purposely adult tone of voice to buy beer. While Billy's natural form is a bit more demure, he does get a bit flustered when he's trying to sneak out of school and fals to come up with a convincing alibi.
• Establishing Character Moment: The police arrive to a small store responding to a call, Billy politely greets them and explains that he saw something suspicious and called them straight away. They go in to find the store empty, while Billy locks them in, uses the computer database in the car to get an address for his potential mother, and takes their lunch. This boy is clever but definitely not pure of heart.
• "Eureka!" Moment: In the final battle, Billy recalls the conversation he had with the Wizard Shazam, who mentioned that he ruled the Council of Seven along with his brothers and sisters and that their thrones are waiting. This makes Billy realize that he can use the Wizard Shazam's staff to share his powers with his foster siblings.
• Everyone Has Standards: Billy may be sullen and willing to commit a bit of mischief, but if you taunt anyone over not knowing who their biological parents are, he'll come at you hard.
• Family of Choice: Billy has been rejecting foster family after foster family in order to look for his long-lost mother for the past ten years. Once he realizes that his mother intentionally cast him aside at the fair due to having a difficult time raising him as a young single mother, however, he considers his recent foster family his true family.
• Finger Poke of Doom: Due to his Super-Strength, a single flick from Billy's finger is enough to send a metal barrel smashing into a wall.
• Flaw Exploitation: When Billy realizes that Dr Sivana retained Envy while the other six Sins were summoned to fight his siblings, coupled with the fact that the name of each Sin describes their entire personality, Billy decides to agitate Envy to the point where he'd discard Sivana and try to fight Billy.
• Finger Poke of Doom: Due to his Super-Strength, a single small finger push is enough to propel a metal barrel as if it was an empty beer can.
• Flying Brick: He possesses the ability to fly and he has the Strength of Hercules. The "flying" part took a while to kick in, though.
• From Shame, Heroism: Billy was given the powers of the wizard Shazam, but initially used them in vain and self-serving ways. For that, he gets a very scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Freddy Freeman and Dr. Sivana. Realizing that Freddy was right after he reunites briefly with his long-lost mother, he calls to apologize, only to find that Sivana has taken Freddy and the rest of his foster family hostage. Billy becomes a true hero as he goes off to save them.
• From Zero to Hero: Billy's an abandoned child who went on to become a superhero on par with Superman.
• Genius Bruiser: He holds both the Wisdom of Solomon and the Strength of Hercules.
• Henshin Hero: He only has superpowers when channeling the power of Shazam.
• The Hero Dies: It's not a Disney Death, as Billy genuinely does die in his Heroic Sacrifice to defeat Kalypso and Ladon, and his family even buries him in the gods' realm. But then Diana arrives after receiving Billy-Shazam's message and reignites the staff, which causes life to be reborn in the realm, including reviving Billy.
• Hero Does Public Service: Billy uses his lightning powers to recharge mobile phones. This ends up destroying at least one.
• Heroes' Frontier Step: Billy proves himself worthy to be champion when he bestows the powers of SHAZAM on his foster siblings, simultaneously fulfilling the Wizard's request to replace the fallen council and showing his foster siblings that he accepts them as his family.
• Heroic Build: He's appropriately ripped in superhero form.
• Hobo Gloves: Billy wears a pair of grey, wool ones, consistent with him being an abandoned child.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: One of the things he does in his superhero body is visit a strip club. Later when he needs to escape the temple, he thinks of a different place which is the same strip club, to the disappointment of Mary.
• How Do I Shot Web?:
  • Billy has no idea what his powers even are at first. He and Freddy figure it out by trial and error, complete with tests and video records. His first attempt at flight doesn't go so well, and he finds out he's bulletproof by being shot.
  • He doesn't even figure out how to change back into his teen self until he's trying to explain the bizarre situation to his foster sister, Darla.
  • He also has troubles mastering his Flying Brick powers once in the sky, at first.
  Billy: I believe I can fly! I believe I can fly! [keeps freefalling] Superman! SUPER-MAN! WHAT ARM IS IT?! [desperately tries to imitate the Man of Steel's flying gestures]
• Humble Hero: A good sign of who Billy is as a person is his response to the Wizard when offered the powers of Shazam — he gently turns him down, feeling that he isn’t worthy of it.
  Billy: "Look, man, maybe this is magic, and, I don't know, but the people you're looking for, good, pure people, I'm not one of them. I-I don't know if anyone is, really."
• I Am the Noun: When Billy and Freddy want to buy adults-only products.
  Freddy: We don't even have fake IDs.
  Billy: Look at me. I am the fake ID.
• I Believe I Can Fly: Billy takes awhile to figure out how to fly, with Freddy suggesting that he just visualise flying and he'll do it. It turns out Billy just had to be thrown into the deep end.
• I Can't Hear You: Unlike Superman, Billy didn't get enhanced hearing as part of his powerset, which he found out while Dr Sivana was trying to intimidate him from a distance.
• Ideal Hero: Played with. Traditionally, Captain Marvel is considered more pure and noble than Superman himself. Billy Batson is specifically chosen by the wizard Shazam because of his purity of heart. In the film, taking influence from the New 52, Billy is not as outwardly pure of heart but still ultimately good, and the Wizard chose him more for his potential, as well as the fact that the Seven Deadly Sins had just been released and the Wizard was out of both time and options. He grows into the role by the end of the film.
• I Have Many Names: Since he can't call himself "Shazam" without changing back into his true identity, Billy ends up with a series of nicknames...none of which sound particularly impressive. One of them is "ZAPtain America".
• Ineffectual Loner: At the beginning of his movie, Billy believes that he is fine being on his own and doesn't need support, even going as far as preaching it to Mary while under the guise of Shazam. However, he eventually realizes that he's not strong enough to challenge Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins on his own and that his foster sibling are faithful allies so he decides to share his power with them.
• I Never Told You My Name: One of the things that clues in Mary to deduce Billy's superhero persona is the fact that he calls her by name during their first meeting. While he almost pulls off an explanation that it's his name-reading superpower, he then proceeds to mention that she lives in a group-home which implies he personally knows her.
• Informed Attribute: Played with and justified. He's stated to have the Courage of Achilles, but the first time he meets with an evenly matched foe, he runs and hides; likewise, he certainly doesn't seem to have the Wisdom of Solomon, acting rash, impulsive and downright foolish at times. However, courage and wisdom aren't like speed or strength, and Billy at the time is only focused on his own happiness and not learning anything from his experiences — the opposite of what those things require. Eventually, after he realizes the painful truth that his mother doesn't want him and sees that his adoptive family's in trouble, he shows real bravery and defeats Sivana and the Sins using his head.
• Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: Freddy chronicles Billy's exploration of his powers. This includes showing Billy failing to unlock certain powers which results in countless YouTube followers witnessing him getting hurt in darkly comedic ways.
• Irony: Billy as a child acts like a bitter and mature man trapped in a 14 year old boy's body, whereas his adult alter ego is a bright, happy, exuberant and hyperactive ball of energy constantly bouncing off the walls like a five year old.
• I Shall Taunt You: Billy gains an advantage over Dr. Sivana by taunting and goading Envy until it emerges to try and kill him...leaving Sivana completely powerless and allowing the Sins to be beaten and sealed away.
• It's All About Me: Billy starts out with this mindset due to being on his own for 10 years. It gets deconstructed before his very eyes when he finds his mother and learns that she abandoned him for her own self-interest, compelling Billy to change his tune.
• It's All Junk: Billy keeps the compass his mother won for him at the fair the day he got lost as his only link to her. When he finds out she willingly abandoned him, and she doesn't recognize it, he leaves it with her.
  Billy: Keep it. It looks like you need it more than me.
• I Will Find You: Billy spent most of his life trying to find and reunite with his mother. And is disappointed when they meet.
• Jack of All Stats: Averted. Billy doesn't figure out how to fly until his life is in danger and the courage of Achilles is never demonstrated. Compare this with Freddy Freeman, who can float in the air without even trying.
• Jerkass Realization: After his encounter with his biological mother, Billy realizes how cold and distant he was towards his foster family and makes it up by embracing his new life with them.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Comes with the territory of a rebellious teenager with serious family issues. He can be abrasive, snarky and a Destructive Savior several times, but he's proven to be pure of heart and a good person underneath it all.
• Kid Hero: His real identity is that of a teenage boy, but he takes on the appearance of an adult in his superhero form.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: Technically he isn't a wizard, but all of his abilities are magical.
• Lightning Bruiser: Having both the Strength of Hercules and the Speed of Mercury, Billy can lift a bus and can also run so fast people will only see a blur.
• Lightning Can Do Anything: Billy uses his lightning powers to charge phones and trick vending machines into dispensing dozens of cans. The results are mixed.
• Logical Weakness: As in the comics, Billy is helpless if he's unable to physically shout "Shazam" to trigger his transformation, something Sivana exploits in the finale by attempting to drown him.
• Loved by All: Unlike some of the other heroes, Billy is immediately welcomed by the public rather than feared. Having Freddy take care of his public image was a key factor.
• Made of Iron: He was hit by a truck and wasn't even bruised. Sivana points out that mortal instruments can't hurt magically empowered beings.
• Manchild: Billy with the Power of Shazam becomes a 14-year old in a 30-something man's body.
• Memento MacGuffin: Downplayed. Billy treasures the compass trinket he receives from his mother when she won it from the fair when he was a child. It's the only link to his mother that he still has and he believes that it will eventually lead him back to her, but the compass itself doesn't play an important role in the story, and Billy found his mother through other means. He eventually gives the compass back to his mother after he learns that she deliberately abandoned him at that fair, telling her that she needs it more than him.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Billy normally acts sullen, but the sudden growth spurt and surge of powers bring out a more excitable side to him.
• Momma's Boy: Deconstructed. Billy has fond memories of his mother and his main goal is to reunite with her, going so far as to run away from suitable foster homes. However, Billy is left heartbroken and disappointed by how selfish his mother is when they do meet.
• Monster Protection Racket: An unintentional example: While Billy is screwing around with his powers to entertain pedestrians for cash like a street busker, he gets into an argument with Freddy over it. Billy lets loose an errant lightning bolt which strikes a bridge, sending a bus careening over the side. Billy snaps into action to save the bus, and is hailed as a hero with no one (except Freddy, who gives him a massive What the Hell, Hero? over it) the wiser.
• Mundane Utility: Billy uses his electricity powers to charge random peoples' phones, and by peddling for change by showing off "lightning from my hands" to tourists. Unfortunately, he goes a little overboard and blows up a phone, then one of his larger lightning bolts arcs down into a city bus.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Billy/Shazam means well, but his lack of foresight of his strength and inexperience with his superpowers makes him create a lot of detrimental problems. In his first attempt to help people, he tries to stop a mugger, only to badly freak out and scare away the victim (who had already pepper-sprayed her assailant and needed no help). Later, he nearly obliterates a bus on the freeway, forcing him to save it.
  • Turns out breaking the wizard's staff, which Billy did after giving his siblings powers in the previous movie to ensure that Sivana couldn't try to steal them, also ended the seal that prevented the gods from entering the mortal realm, allowing the Daughters of Atlas to arrive seeking revenge.
  • Billy placing the apple unguarded in the library makes it quite easy for Hespera to recover it once she breaks out of her cell.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Billy possesses the Stamina of Atlas, which gives him a Healing Factor and toughness pretty much on par with yellow sun-exposed Kryptonians. Billy discovers by accident that he's bullet-proof and takes some severe beatings without showing any bruises.
• Nominal Hero: At first, confused by his sudden powers and with no pressing threat to deal with beyond the occasional thief or mugger, Billy uses his superhero form to goof around and have fun, taking selfies or impressing tourists.
• Personality Power: While becoming an adult is simply a side effect of Billy's transformation into Shazam, it does embody his desire to become old enough to become independent and not have to rely anyone. Eventually, it does end up maturing him by placing responsibility at his feet and making him realize that even possessing the strongest powers in the world aren't going to make him truly happy.
• Power Perversion Potential: Being able to transform into an adult allows Billy to buy beer, ditch school, and go into strip clubs.
• Precocious Crush: Downplayed. Billy is not a young boy but a teenager, and the end credits to Shazam shows he apparently has a crush on The Ageless Amazon adult, Wonder Woman.
• Pretending to Be One's Own Relative: Billy pretends to be his and Freddy's father by switching into his older alter ego form so that he and Freddy can skip school.
• Primary-Color Champion: A white cape, red suit, with golden emblems and boots.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Billy gives one to Envy, calling him a weak, worthless, ugly runt who the other sins won't let out to play, in order to goad him into leaving Sivana's body, rendering him powerless.
• Redeeming Replacement: Billy is the first Champion since Teth-Adam used his granted powers to spread terror. While Billy's not exactly a paragon, he does show a knack for performing heroic acts, such as when he tried to stop a mugging and successfully stopped a store robbery on his first night as SHAZAM.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The sullen and reserved Blue Oni to Freddy's hyperactive Motor Mouth Red Oni. Ironically, their signature colours are red and blue respectively.
• Red Is Heroic: His suit is bright red.
• Red Ones Go Faster: Billy's signature colour is red and he possesses the speed of Mercury.
• Refusal of the Call: A minor one. He initially tries to decline the elder wizard Shazam's power but quickly agrees to it (albeit so he can take advantage of his adult form, but eventually he grows into his role as a superhero).
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: In the comics, Mary was originally Billy's long-lost twin sister. Here, she's his older foster sister, although within the comics Mary and Billy were changed to adoptive siblings in the New 52 line-up. Mary being Billy's foster sister fits with the movie's Family of Choice theme.
• Right Man in the Wrong Place: The Wizard chose Billy because his lifespan was nearing its end and Sivana had just unleashed the Seven Sins. Billy clearly wasn't his ideal choice, but he does come through after undergoing character development.
• Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: Billy's starts out as a Token Evil Teammate to the rest of his family. His closest confidant Freddy - while not exactly pure of heart himself - is a lot more personable and understands that With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, while the rest of their siblings are practically ideal (though Eugene does have a bit of a potty mouth when he's playing online).
• The Runaway: Billy ran away from twenty-three foster homes in six counties before he was placed at the Vasquez home, all because he wanted to find his mother.
• Self-Serving Memory: Played for Drama. Billy's memory of the day at the fair is bright and happy, and his mother doting and affectionate, because it was seen from the perspective of an excited young boy. However, his mother's own recollection is much more dull and realistic, showing how worn-out and regretful she was. Even certain costuming details - such as the gloves she's wearing - are different.
• Shock and Awe: He can summon lightning bolts and wield electricity, thanks to the Power of Zeus. It takes him a while to get the hang of it.
  Billy: (zapping random passerbys' phones) YOUR phone's charged, YOUR phone's charged...
  (The phone immediately overloads and shorts out)
  Guy: The hell?!
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Billy is seen wearing his jacket and hat throughout the movie, which makes sense given the story takes place during winter. However, it also represents how emotionally closed off he starts off as a result of his bitterness. Becoming Shazam, fighting Sivana, bonding with his foster family, and so on, helps him open up. By the end, Billy is not seen wearing his hat and jacket while eating dinner with the Vasquez family, showing that he has truly opened up to them.
• Standardized Leader: Averted. Billy is more-or-less the leader of the SHAZAM family and they do get their powers from him, but his skill-set isn't shown to be any better or worse than the others. For instance, it took him several days before his flight power kicked in while Freddy has a natural aptitude for it. Similarly, Billy has the bare minimum control over his speed and lightning abilities, while Darla and Eugene are much more refined in both.
• Stepford Snarker: His quips and deflections hide the fact that he's still a lonely young boy hurt over the loss of his mother.
• Stumbled Into the Plot: Billy gains the power to become Shazam because he got randomly abducted by the wizard.
• Subverted Catchphrase: The first thing Billy says onscreen is "Holy Moley!". It's subverted since he's feigning innocence so he can outsmart some policemen, but later on he starts using it with total sincerity, so the subversion itself was subverted.
• Superhero Prevalence Stages: As a Lighter and Softer contrast to previous superheroes in the DCEU, Billy naturally represents the Silver Age. Having the Justice League as a guideline is implied to be a factor in Billy's easygoing approach to being a superhero.
• Super-Intelligence: Billy supposedly possesses the Wisdom of Solomon, but it may be an Informed Attribute as he remains pretty much a teenager in attitude. However, he does use it in the final battle to thoroughly analyze the Sins so he can discern which Sin is which, and thus which one is inside Sivana. He then perfectly goads the demon into attacking him and leaving Sivana powerless, giving him the chance to apprehend him and seal the Sins back away. Just before that, he works out his ability to bestow superpowers on his foster siblings by remembering that the wizard instructed him to fill the empty thrones in the Rock of Eternity.
• Superpower Lottery: As versatile as Superman. Possessing Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Nigh-Invulnerability, Super-Intelligence, and the ability to summon lightning. In contrast, he does not have super hearing, nor any vision-related power.
• Symbol Motif Clothing: Fittingly, lightning bolts; aside from his huge chest emblem, bolt patterns are etched all over his belt and even appear on his boots.
• Take a Third Option: Once Sivana captures his foster family, he gains leverage over Billy and offers him two choices. Give over the power of Shazam or watch his family die in front of him starting with Darla. Fortunately, Billy remembers the Wizard's final words..."with your heart unlock your greatest power. The thrones of our brother and sisters await" and manifests a third option. He realizes he can share his power with his foster family turning them into the Shazam family, immediately granting them Invulnerability to keep them safe from the Seven Sins.
  Billy: If a superhero can't save his family, he's not much of a hero.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Invoking the name of Shazam makes Billy larger and more muscular, which when combined with his naturally dark hair makes him look similar to Superman.
• Technopath: His lightning gives him some control over machines with a chance of breaking them. He can instantly charge phones and empty cash and vending machines.
• Teleportation: At one point, Freddie and Billy test to see if Billy can teleport; the test ends inconclusively, since Freddie was actually testing to see if he could survive being lit on fire. It turns out that Shazam can teleport to and from the Rock of Eternity, though his control over this is fairly tenuous.
• Took a Level in Badass: He's a regular kid in the beginning but gains the powers of SHAZAM and gradually learns to control them.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Billy starts off as a cynical, bitter loner who doesn't want to be in a "fake" family and gains an ego after becoming Shazam. Having to deal with Sivana, meeting and becoming disillusioned with his mother, and bonding with his siblings - particularly Freddy - helps Billy become a nicer, open person.
• Touched by Vorlons: Deconstructed in Fury of the Gods. Billy starts to deveop Impostor Syndrome as his powers were just handed to him. He also feels like he's not that special since the Justice League (and the Justice Society) seem to have an otherworldly vibe that he just can't replicate.
• Troubled Teen: Billy lost his mother at the age of four, never knew his father and years of futile attempts to reconnect with the former have taken their toll on his disposition. Billy eventually outgrows this.
• Underestimating Badassery: He doesn't think much of Sivana at first, and laughs at the idea that a "bad guy" could ever be a threat to him... and then Sivana jabs him in the gut, uppercuts him onto a cop car, grabs his punch without any effort, and flies into the clouds while throttling him. From that point on, Billy is understandably very afraid of what Sivana can or will do.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: Unlike the earlier comics, Billy and Mary aren't blood related siblings in this universe.
• Unskilled, but Strong:
  • The Wizard leaves Billy without any guidance to speak of (he doesn't even know what powers he has at first, let alone how to use them properly), meaning that he has to test them one at a time with Freddy before he can perfect his skills — and even then, the learning curve is pretty sharp.
  • Billy finds out he can shoot lightning from his fingers by carelessly pointing near Freddy, causing a string of power lines to blow out. Both he and Freddy are too amazed and delighted to consider what could've happened if he'd actually hit him with a bolt by accident.
  • He has about as much combat experience as your typical scrawny teenager. He's also basically a magic-fueled Superman as far as power goes.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Zigzagged. Billy's Dark and Troubled Past is played for drama, but he takes certain actions that make it hard to feel too bad for him. Once he gains the power of Shazam and takes on the form of a muscular man, Billy takes on all sorts of physical harm which is played for comedy since he's impervious to practically everything.
• Up, Up and Away!: Subverted. Billy mistakenly assumes that just posing like Superman will automatically help him fly when he uses a completely different power source. Even when he does master flight it's not quite clear how he got the hang of it.
• Waking Up at the Morgue: Billy wakes up in the ground of the Gods' Realm after his family buried him when he was dead. Luckily, because he's in Shazam-form (somehow, despite being in his normal form when he was dead), he easily bursts out from the dirt and is just slightly perturbed by it more than anything.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Wisdom of Solomon aside, Billy insists that he can take care of himself. His counselor doesn't appear to deny or refute this and pleads with him to at least stay with the Vasquezes until he's of legal age.
• With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Billy initially uses his powers to goof off and become famous. However, Freddy eventually calls him out on his selfish behavior, causing him to realize he needs to accept responsibility to become a real hero.
• Younger Than They Look: In his superhero form, Billy looks like a grown man but still remains 14 years old in his mind. In fact, Billy does clarify that he's a teenager to Doctor Sivana in the hope that he would be merciful.

The New Champions

The Shazam Family

"What good's power if you got nobody to share it with?"

Species: Empowered humans

Citizenship: Americans

Played by: Adam Brody (Freddy Freeman) | Michelle Borth & Grace Caroline Currey^note replacing Borth in Fury of the Gods (Mary Bromfield) | Ross Butler (Eugene Choi) | D. J. Cotrona (Pedro Peña) | Meagan Good (Darla Dudley)

Appearances: SHAZAM! | SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods

When forced by Dr. Sivana to surrender his powers with the Wizard's staff, Billy Batson/Shazam finds out he can instead use it to share his powers with his foster brothers and sisters, and turns them all into adult superheroes like himself, which allows them to battle Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins on more even ground.

For tropes applying to individual characters and their normal personas, see Philadelphia - Vasquez foster family.

---

• 11th-Hour Ranger: They're all kept on the sidelines during the majority of the first film, but in the final confrontation with Sivana and the Seven Sins Billy empowers them so that he doesn't have to fight alone.
• Badass Cape: All kids have these in their superhero forms.
• Badass Family: Once all the foster kids get the powers of Shazam, they become this. Given they were willing to fight Sivana and his demon allies with little more than whatever objects they could grab, it's safe to say their gumption isn't just born from the courage of Achilles.
• Big Little Brothers: All of Mary's foster brothers tower over her while they are all in their superhero forms.
• Brainy Brunette: They've all got dark hair and possess the wisdom of Solomon.
• Brought Down to Badass: Downplayed, but all five of Billy's foster siblings get to prove that they're still no slouches in their normal forms.
  • Freddy is incredibly resistant to both Kalypso's Mind Control and Ladon's Supernatural Fear Inducer breath, even moreso than the Wizard in the former case.
  • Darla, Mary, Pedro, Eugene, and the Wizard are able to befriend the unicorns thanks to Darla, and ride them in battle against the Tree of Life-spawned monsters to protect the civilians of Philadelphia while Shazam faces Kalypso and Ladon.
• Brought Down to Normal: Happens to all of the Shazamily except for Billy himself, courtesy of Kalypso, at different points, including twice for Freddy as he's able to get his powers back after the first time, only to have them taken away again not long after. By the end of the second film, Billy gives them all their powers back.
• The Chosen Many: Billy granted all five of his foster siblings with his power both to defend themselves and because he knew they could be trusted with his kind of power.
• Color-Coded Characters: In casual clothes Billy is red, Freddy is blue, Darla is purple, Pedro is green, Eugene is gray, and Mary is magenta. This transfers directly into Color-Coded Secret Identity for all but Mary, whose Shazam form is pretty much the same shade of red as Billy's, whereas her civilian clothes' magenta is more similar to Darla's purple.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The new champions seem to be colored based on their aptitudes.
  • Red = Master of All
  • Blue = Flight
  • Purple = Super-Speed
  • Green = Super-Strength
  • Gray = Shock and Awe
• Competitive Balance: When they acquire the powers of Shazam, each kid seems to specialize in one aspect — Freddy in flight, Eugene in electricity manipulation, Pedro in strength, and Darla in speed.^note These correlate with the Power of Zeus, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Strength of Hercules, and the Speed of Mercury — the powers that the Alternate Universe versions of the kids of Flashpoint represented. Though seemingly a Master of None, Mary gets the much less showy Super-Intelligence, amplifying her natural aptitudes in that regard.
• Cosmopolitan Council: The family are a mix of ethnic groups who inherit the Council of Wizards.
• Costume Evolution: The Shazam costumes have undergone some changes between films:
  • The thunderbolt on Shazam’s costume no longer glows (except sometimes) and is a solid symbol made of gold.
  • Darla's Shazam suit has Mercury Wings at the shoes.
  • Pedro's suit is a darker shade of green with gray added.
• Crisis Makes Perfect: Though they do bungle a little handling their superpowers at first, the other Champions' grasping of their forms is much quicker than Billy's due to having to stop Sivana and prevent any collateral damage at that precise moment. Most of Billy's mastery of each of his powers was also during an earlier crisis.
• Darker and Edgier: By the time of Fury of the Gods the entire family have had their costumes altered to be more in line with the rest of the DCEU, using darker hues, bolder metals and more distinct chest symbols with a noticable absence of the glowing lights.
• Dream Team: They're a close-knit foster family blessed with incredible power with the intention of succeeding the Council of Wizards so they can fight injustice and malevolent forces.
• Fast as Lightning: All of them, but Darla especially.
• Five-Token Band: Between one black kid, one Asian kid, one hispanic kid (who is Ambiguously Gay besides) and one disabled kid, they check a lot of boxes. However, much like the trope description they also have a White Male Lead, there is Two Girls to a Team (making it two thirds male), the character who is shown as the most equal to the hero (being the oldest sibling and the other one besides Billy who doesn't "specialise" in her powers) is the only other white abled-bodied one.
• Gold and White Are Divine: All six of the new champions wear white capes with gold trim and gain their powers from heavenly beings.
• Heartwarming Orphan: They're all foster children who are genuinely kind-hearted people.
• Heroes "R" Us: They form a junior Justice League.
• Heroic Build: The boys get ripped superhero forms, Pedro especially, while the girls become slender yet curvy.
• Identically Powered Team: Downplayed. They've all inherited the exact same powers, but display aptitudes for certain abilities.
• Instant Expert: While Billy has to figure out his powers through trial and error, the others immediately know what powers they have and know how to use it (albeit by specialising in one power per sibling).
• Kid Hero: They're kids who can turn into superheroes in an instant. Mary is an exception, as she's a high school senior in the first film and the second film is set a few years later.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Billy's foster siblings gained their powers within the final stretch of the first film. Previews for the second film don't even try to hide the fact that they're all superheroes now.
• Legacy Characters: The Wizard Shazam didn't just pass his powers onto Billy to have him and him alone continue the fight against forces of evil. He intended the empty thrones of his long gone brothers and sisters at the Rock of Eternity to not be empty anymore. Billy figures it out, and turns his foster brothers and sisters into superheroes to carry out that legacy.
• Leotard of Power: They all wear spandex and capes similar to Superman and Batman.
• Magic A Is Magic A: They all possess the Wisdom of Solomon to varying degrees. Since it's explicitly referred to as "wisdom" and not "intelligence", neither Billy nor his siblings display any knowledge that they wouldn't have acquired beforehand. Mary in particular was already accepted into her first choice of university and figured out Billy was the new superhero in town just by witnessing his interaction with Freddy. Likewise, Eugene is tech-savvy enough to track down Billy's biological mother.
• Magical Girl Warrior: Mary and Darla initially rely on physical ability rather than flight or lightning.
• The Magic Comes Back: A deleted scene in the first movie shows the foster siblings sitting on the thrones of the original Council of Wizards, showing that the Council's future is secure.
• Most Common Superpower: Interestingly, Mary had this before getting the other most common superpowers. Darla's superhero form is played by the very curvaceous Meagan Good.
• Personality Powers: They all have the full powerset but the "specialists" could each utilize one right away, under duress, without the learning curve Billy went through — Hero-Worshipper with mobility issues Freddy gets Flight, tech geek Eugene can shoot Lightning, wannabe bodybuilder Pedro gets Super-Strength, Brainy Brunette Mary gets Super-Intelligence (though not as prominently shown) and Motor Mouth Darla gets Super-Speed.
• Repeated Cue, Tardy Response: In the second film, Billy attempts to summon his siblings while speaking with Hespera.

Billy: I've seen all of the Fast & Furious movies, lady. It's all...about...FAMILY! (beat) Family?! Guys, that was the signal!

• Sexier Alter Ego: The kids in their superhero forms wear skintight costumes that accentuate the males' ripped muscles and the females' physically fit body, with Mary's costume being Minidress of Power and Darla's being sleeveless.
  • In Fury of the Gods Mary's Shazam form resembles her normal self but in a superhero costume.
• Sibling Team: Foster siblings, but their appearance coincides with Billy accepting them as his true family.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: The superhero forms of every Vasquez foster kid bar of course Billy were not featured in any trailer for the first movie, for a good reason — it's a pivotal moment in the climax of the first movie.
• Superhero Speciation: While they've all got the same powerset, each sibling has a natural talent for one particular power. Billy himself didn't figure out how to fly until he was forced into a sink-or-swim situation, while Freddy picked it up without even trying. It's possible the siblings will eventually become well-rounded if they practice as much as Billy did.
• Superpowered Alter Ego: A given, since they can only access their powers by turning into superheroes.
• Super Team: Billy turns his foster siblings into a team of superheroes to give him a better chance at fighting the Seven Sins.
• Team Power Walk: The siblings love confidently strolling towards their latest adventure either in their super forms or their civilian forms. Sometimes they transform while doing a power walk so they can dramatically emerge from the ensuing smoke.
• Two Girls to a Team: Two girls (Mary and Darla) and the rest are dudes.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Like Billy, they're strong enough to fight the Seven Deadly Sins right away but it takes them some time to harness their powers. Justified since they're all kids who only found out about the new superhero in town mere days ago.
• Useless Accessory: They all have belts despite wearing one-piece uniforms.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: They were empowered to combat the Seven Deadly Sins when Billy wasn't strong enough to protect them and fight the Sins at the same time.
• Walking Spoiler: All of them bar Billy, as they don't become superheroes until the climax of the first film and are mostly absent from promotional material.
• With Great Power Comes Great Hotness: Especially prevalent with scrawny Eugene and overweight Pedro, who get jacked-up muscles and handsome features.

Allies

Mr. Tawky Tawny

Mr. Tawky Tawny

Species: Tiger-man

Appearances: SHAZAM! Thundercrack

Fawcett High's football mascot. At one point Freddy imagines him as a living being after taking a cheerleader to the head.

---

• Adapted Out: In a sense. Being a figment of Freddy's imagination more or less confirms the real Tawky Tawny won't ever appear in any films unless some kind of spell is able to bring him into the real world.
• Foil: Tawky is upbeat, committed to justice and eagerly takes Freddy under his wing. In other words he's exactly what Freddy was trying to mold Billy into.

Bynx the Sphynx

Bynx the Sphynx

Species: Sphynx

Citizenship: Goodhome

Appearances: Shazamily Matters

A magical being that resides in a realm called Goodhome.

---

• Alice Allusion: He's a very blatant Shout-Out to the Cheshire Cat from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
• The Genie Knows Jack Nicholson: Subverted. While Bynx does have the power to set up an elaborate home-viewing system complete with wi-fi, he's completely in the dark about what baseball is.
• Our Sphinxes Are Different: That's putting it mildly. Not only does Bynx look more like a cartoon lion than a human/lion hybrid, but his ability to grant wishes makes him more like a genie than a sphynx.

"Steve"

"Steve"

Species: Enchanted pen

Citizenship: Rock of Eternity

Affiliation(s): Council of Wizards

Appearances: SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods

A pen found in the lair. It originally didn't have any name to the other character's knowledge, so one of them just called it "Steve".

---

• Ambiguous Situation: just how sentient is Steve? On the one hand, it has trouble telling the difference between what is supposed to be written and comments about that, but on the other, it can shrug when it doesn't know something.
• Magical Database: Serves as the index to all the books in the library, and has a decent amount of knowledge that it doesn't need to look up. That being said, it isn't Omniscient. Doubles as a downplayed Magic Librarian, Magic Scribe, etc.
• Mythology Gag: Steve is actually based on the Historama, a device the Wizard used in the comics to find out about events unknown to him. In the comics it was either a TV or a book; in this film, it's a pen.
• Overly Literal Transcription: Steve captures everything that is supposed to be in a letter, even directions about the writing.

Unicorns

Unicorns

Species: Unicorns

Citizenship: Olympian

Appearances: SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods

---

• Adaptational Nice Guy: Unicorns in mythology are notoriously picky about who can get close to them, typically only maidens that are pure of heart. Here they allow any gender to ride them. Downplayed, as the Wizard explained that Unicorns hate humanity, only helped the Shazam siblings after Darla offered them Skittles.
• Adaptational Ugliness: They're nowhere near as pretty as they are in fantasy art, looking like a cross between a horse and a dragon.
• Cool Horse: About as cool as it gets without having a pair of wings.
• Dark Is Not Evil: They're all pitch black, yet serve as steeds for the Shazam siblings.
• The Dreaded: By the other mythological creatures. When they see the unicorns coming, they turn tail and run.
• Token Heroic Orc: They are just one of the various mythological creatures created by the tree of life planted by Kalypso, and are supposed to join with the rest of the monsters in terrorizing humanity. But Darla successfully tamed them enough to help out the Shazam siblings instead.
• Unicorn: The wizard notes they're actually "not the ponies registered in culture", but vicious creatures feared by other monsters. Still, Darla is able to befriend them.

---