Shazam is already busy making waves in the wake of that splendid Comic Con trailer, but it stands to reason that audiences won't be overly familiar with his move-set. The trailer established his bullet-proof body, his strength and his flight (sort of), but stopped short of depicting all the wonderful other abilities Billy Batson has in his arsenal.
The original Captain Marvel may look like just another version of Superman on the surface, but his abilities are magical in nature, and don't stem from a sci-fi premise. They actually originate with the Greek and Roman Pantheon of Gods, with the character possessing the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and - most pertinent of all - the speed of Mercury.
Shazam is very fast, and can move past the speed of light. At one point he moved so fast that he entered the fifth dimension, placing him among the fastest beings in the DC Universe and ensuring that his counterpart in Metropolis keeps a watchful eye over his shoulder when it comes to competition.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
