SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS
A well-made superhero romp with worship problems at its core.
Should You Watch It?
Here is the hard part of this review: the movie is good. It's exciting, it's funny, and its real strength is the warmth of its characters — the bonds between Billy, his foster siblings, and their adoptive parents carry genuine emotional weight. There are heartfelt moments celebrating family and sacrifice, and the film even nods to the Wisdom of Solomon.
But quality isn't the question. The question is what the movie asks you to accept. It sets false Greek gods loose in the modern world with no acknowledgment of the One True God — and, unlike the first film, it drops the Christian references that once countered them. Worse, one of Billy's brothers comes out as homosexual and the family happily approves, which the film frames as love rather than sin. Add 23 obscenities and light profanities and heavy action violence, and the total is more than this family can carry home.
So our answer is plain: skip it. A well-made film can still be one you shouldn't see, and this is one of them.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESTeenage Billy Batson still transforms into an adult superhero whenever he says the magic word — "Shazam!" — and in the first film he shared that gift with his four foster siblings.
But breaking a magical staff came at a cost. It freed the three daughters of the Greek god Atlas, and they are out for revenge against the humans their tyrannical father once ruled. Now they've come to Philadelphia hunting the power Billy and his family control. Can a houseful of squabbling teenage heroes save their city from the fury of the gods?
Is It Any Good?
Four stars, and they're earned. This is exciting, confident filmmaking, but its best quality isn't spectacle — it's the characters and their humor. The bonds between Billy, his siblings, and their adoptive parents Rosa and Victor become the true heart of the climax, and the movie knows it.
The comic highlight belongs to young Darla, whose unexpected rapport with a pack of scary-looking unicorns in the second act is a small delight. The action lands, the jokes land, and the family feeling lands. As a piece of craft, it's the real thing — which is exactly what makes its worldview problems worth naming rather than shrugging off.
The Worldview
This is a mixed worldview, and the mix doesn't hold. On one side sits real good: a film that celebrates family, sacrifice, and the protection of the innocent, and even acknowledges the value of the Wisdom of Solomon — indeed the plot turns on a redemptive act of sacrifice, death, and resurrection.
On the other side sits the problem. The film accepts the false, polytheistic mythology of many gods as simply true. The three daughters of Atlas are goddesses; at one point one of them (played by Helen Mirren) calls Billy himself a god. None of these figures demand worship, but the movie never once acknowledges the One True God of our civilization's biblical heritage. The first Shazam! had overt Christian references; this one replaces them with pagan ones. Myth set in ancient Greece is one thing — planted in the modern world with nothing to counter it, it's another.
Then there is the politically correct turn. Billy's brother Pedro comes out as homosexual, and the family isn't surprised — they've already "accepted" it. The film treats approval of sin as love. Scripture answers differently: "To fear God is to hate evil" (Proverbs 8:13) — not accept it, and certainly not promote it. Because these elements dominate and go uncountered, we rate the film unacceptably excessive.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Mixed pagan worldview that accepts the false, polytheistic Greek mythological notion of gods and their and other supernatural powers that are a bit occult, which is combined with strong moral elements and themes celebrating family and saving and protecting people, and overtly acknowledging the kind of wisdom that Solomon had (there are complaints, for instance, that the main superhero seems to lack the Wisdom of Solomon, which is the first power that he’s supposed to have), plus there’s a redemptive element of sacrifice and death and resurrection that solves the story’s plot problem, but there’s also a politically correct, overt homosexual moment when one of the adopted children in a foster family comes out as homosexual and none of the other family members are surprised and have already “accepted” his sodomite “identity” (in another scene, the boy is shown looking at a magazine image of a man with his shirt off)
Foul Language
15 obscenities and eight light profanities, plus a post credits scene having nothing to do with the movie’s story has one “h” obscenity and two GD obscenities
Violence
Lots of action violence and other violence includes two evil beings with supernatural powers turn people to stone, attack and fight people and superheroes with energy blasts from a magical staff, and dragon breathing blue fire, and toss people around as well a throw them against walls and large objects, monsters attack people and throw them, a character’s chest is pierced by a dragon’s claw, large scary unicorns pierce two or more monsters in the chest with their horns, superheroes fight two beings with supernatural powers, superhero throws a vehicle at a dragon, a giant tree grows from a golden apple at a baseball stadium and its roots tear up the ground in the stadium and into the city beyond, scary monsters grow from buds on the tree roots and are released to wreak havoc, two villains use their supernatural power to inflict pain on two prisoners, superhero flies dragon through buildings, dragon bursts through house, villain hypnotizes a teacher to jump off a roof, teenage bully punches another boy in the stomach, etc.
Sex
No sex scenes, but there are two references to one of several teenagers being a homosexual
Nudity
No explicit or sexual nudity, but a teenage boy looks at a magazine image of a man with no shirt, and the boy later “comes out” as homosexual to his parents and foster siblings
Alcohol Use
Brief implied alcohol use
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drugs;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Teenage girl deceives teenage boy, villain deceives superheroes, two boys bully another teenager who has a game leg and walks with a steel cane.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The movie treats false gods as real and never mentions the One True God. When the Bible speaks of "gods many," how does it draw the line between them and the Lord?
1 Corinthians 8:5–6 · Isaiah 44:6Billy is meant to carry the Wisdom of Solomon but keeps falling short of it. Where did Solomon get his wisdom, and where can we get ours?
1 Kings 3:9–12 · James 1:5The family shows love by "accepting" a brother's sin. Is approval the same thing as love — and what does it mean that "to fear God is to hate evil"?
Proverbs 8:13 · Ephesians 4:15The story's rescue turns on sacrifice, death, and resurrection. Where have you seen that pattern told truly, and why does the real version matter more than any echo of it?
John 15:13 · 1 Corinthians 15:3–4The Final Word
We won't pretend the craft isn't there — it is, and that's what makes this call hard. But a good movie can still be one that costs your family more than it gives, and this one asks you to accept false gods and to applaud sin. So our answer stands: skip it. Looking for something to watch together instead? Try our latest family-friendly picks.
