By fate or some divine sense of irony, 2019 marks the big screen debut of not one but two different Captains Marvel, one played by Brie Larson for the MCU and the other, under his new name “Shazam,” played by Zachary Levi for DC. Thankfully, the name change makes it a little easier to differentiate between the two of them, but the comics history side of things has never been more tricky to explain.
But never fear. You don’t actually need to be well versed in the ins and outs of Golden Age comics to understand or prepare for both Captain Marvel and Shazam! As they speed towards their release dates next year. It’s okay. You’re free of that burden. In fact, all you really need to know about Shazam moving forward is that he’s actually a kid named Billy Batson who is able to magically turn into an adult superhero. Think the Tom Hanks movie Big meets Superman. That’s it, that’s the whole story. No space aliens or Infinity Stones to worry about at all.
Shazam will be the second major superhero release of 2019, so we’ve still got a little time to wait before the information really starts pouring in–but regardless, it’s never too early to start rounding up exactly what we know. Here are the confirmed details for DC’s first movie of the new year.