Shazamily

By G.P. Avants

Billy Batson was born into a world where parents were negligent and absent and superheroes were vigilant and very present. As he tries to find his lost long mother he is hounded by uncertain destiny. It keeps him on the run and never finding a place where he truly feels he belongs.

After all his running, Billy is on his last foster home option. This group home has a wide-variety of kids of different ages, personalities, and ethic cultures. However their unconventional foster parents are the glue connecting each of them into a cohesive family unit. They are a pair of once broken foster kids who see the best in their not so little family. This couple tries to make stand offish Billy feel at home the best they can. However as Billy sits at the dinner table with his fellow foster friends he discovers that there is a deeper reason why this little family sticks together. Before each meal they huddle together and say grace. A simple daily prayer but a sign that maybe with a little faith in action goes a long way.

The real test came when Billy was chosen as the champion Shazam. He know he wasn’t the perfect person for the job, but his humility brought out the best in him. As Shazam he first abused, but then learned to use his abilities to their limit. His nemesis Dr. Sivana, like all villains pushed Billy far outside his new found hero comfort zone. In many ways the embodiment of the seven deadly sins represents the real struggle men have. Taking sin on was a bigger job than one hero could take on. It brought Shazam to his literally to his knees. That is when his family stepped into the fight. Each foster child, who were once strangers, each became a superhero to fight alongside Shazam. Together they combined their individual strengths and quirkinesses to fight the embodiment of the seven deadly sins that threatened the world.

The beautiful thing about watching superheroes is that we see our own story in their character. Billy was blessed by having a foster family that was thicker than blood. Where his natural mom ran from Billy’s side, his foster one sported a bumpersticker that said, “I’m a foster mom. What’s your superpower?” What a great message that real family doesn’t have to be blood-related. What really connects them is their faith in God and love for each other. Yes, the forces of sin and evil will try to pull them apart, but that fight can actually bring them closer together.