Granted, this isn’t an invention of the movie, but in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” we learn that the magic word “Shazam!” is in fact an acronym that explains the powers that the Wizard granted Billy. It is drawn from the names of six mythical figures: Solomon (wisdom), Hercules (strength), Atlas (stamina), Zeus (power), Achilles (courage), and Mercury (speed). While it’s kind of neat to learn the origin of the term itself, the explanation pulls a lot of logistical threads that unravel the logic of the “Shazam!” universe along with it.
Why would an ancient, magical acronym that dates back to Ancient Greek gods be in English? Why wouldn’t Zeus, the king of all the gods, be the first one in the order? How did Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, lose out to King Solomon, a Biblical figure that doesn’t really fit with the other five gods or demigods on the list? And if Billy, in Shazam form, has the Wisdom of Solomon why is he generally prone to consistently saying and doing pretty comically dumb stuff? It’s a detail that prompts more questions than answers, and few of them make any sense at all.
