1. Cyborg did not fulfill that role in the original story since he didn't ask anyone questions about anything. In fact, Cyborg's role was the complete opposite since he provided answers about Darkseid to the rest of the team. Again, he didn't receive knowledge about anything.
2. That so called "fish out of water" role is not necessary since the team is forming in front of the reader instead of already being established. Also, I'm not sure if that should be called a "fish out of water role" since that doesn't necessarily have to do with introducing the reader to new concepts. For example, in Origin, Wonder Woman was technically a "fish out of water" but that contributed little to the plot and was only moderately funny--if that. It was done more out of necessity to explain that character's background.
Shazam should not have been put on the team for the following reasons.
1. Redundant Personality- Billy's childish personality is already established on the team in Green Lantern and Flash. I mean, the preview shows Billy hitting on Wonder Woman when Green Lantern did that in the book. Every joke Billy has is one less joke Green Lantern or Flash tell. This effectively waters down all three characters.
2. Redundant Visuals- So did we really need another flying brick with jet-black hair? Now we have three of them. And did we really need another character who wears read with a yellow lightning insignia?
3. Redundant Powers- Again, do we really need another flying brick with jet-black hair? I mean, he may be a wizard on top of that, but everyone knows he is a Superman clone. And any magic he does was not needed in the book. Anything he conjures--if anything at all--can probably be conjured by Green Lantern.
4. Absolutely No Fan Demand- Nuff said. He's liked, but absolutely no one has demanded Shazam as a founding member. As already established, he is ridiculously redundant.
If they really wanted to replace Aquaman, they should have gotten another non-redudundant, desperately-needed FEMALE character fans like--i.e. Vixen, Zatanna, etc.
Still, I think Aquaman should have been replaced or gotten rid of.
1. Now that Johns is leaving the title, he will lose his star power as quickly as the JSA, Hawkman, and Booster Gold did after Johns left those titles--regardless of the quality of the book. And Aquaman is still a joke to the general public. When I tried getting non-comic readers or people who read Spawn or Batman to read it, they refused.
2. In the original story, Aquaman only had a cameo and added absolutely nothing to the plot. Nothing. He was pointless. All the pages he took up could have been used and should have been used to flesh out other, more prominent characters like Superman, Darkseid, and Wonder Woman. Getting rid of Aquaman tightens a story that desperately needs tightening.
3. Aquaman can be more effectively introduced in a Throne of Atlantis film.
But you know what? We got Shazam, because Warner probably thinks they can sell more Shazam toys (wrong) or that he could be their next Harry Potter (also wrong since J.K. Rowling is making new films and the success of the original movies was based on Harry Potter's large fanbase outside of the films--something Shazam does not have).
I will give this film a fair shake, but everyone already knows they made some pretty dumb decisions.
Even though I'm not a huge Aquaman fan, he would at least make more sense than Shazam. And another female (or no 7th at all) would make more sense than either of those characters.
Log in to comment