2023 box-office bomb Shazam! Fury of the Gods featured a Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman cameo. Introduced with her electric cello theme and placed amidst a sequence where all hope seems lost, the actress’ superhero conveniently becomes the deus ex machina and resurrects our main character. Yeah. That does happen in the David F. Sandberg-helmed premise. Intended as a hype-inducing surprise appearance, the scene’s narrative implications upset a few critics.
Read more: Gal Gadot Joins X-Men as Emma Frost Ahead of Deadpool 3 in Marvel Art!
Now, months after the film’s release, the cop-out sequence’s juxtaposition, which feels all too comedic, has become a facet to ridicule and poke fun at on the Internet. Commenting on how the utilization of the character’s official soundtrack in a scene construed to be somber destroys the sequence’s tone, netizens expressed their dissatisfaction with the climax through jokes.
Gal Gadot’s Shazam 2 Appearance Gets Trolled By Online Users
Besides being a box office disaster, the follow-up installment to Shazam! (2019) falls behind its forebear. Narrative-wise and commercially. With its formulaic utilization of age-old superhero comic-book tropes, the endeavor falls short of emulating its predecessor’s charm. These inconsistencies seep into most scenes, forcing the audience to lose interest in what the film is attempting to convey.
And then, there’s the juxtaposition between the sequences and their tonal implications that fail to create the resonance it aims for. This is precisely what Gal Gadot’s uncredited appearance accounts for. The narrative stakes are decimated in what follows, positioning the movie as a torchbearer of frustrating cop-outs. However, what particularly feels off about the cameo to thousands of fans is its tonal incongruence.
Read more: Gal Gadot Thriller Branded “Hyperbolic Overkill” Makes it to Worst 2023 Movies List!
As best highlighted by this user on X, the scene, intended to showcase the grieving of Billy’s family around his burial as mellow music plays in the background, is intercepted by our deus ex machina, Wonder Woman’s electrifying theme song put on blast. As she enters, intending to resurrect Billy with her godly powers, Billy’s family don near-surreal happy-go-lucky expressions.
Of course, one can argue that their mourning magically ends with the promise of the superheroine’s presence, knowing she’s the conveyor of good news. However, according to viewers, the over-repetitive use of the theme song across most DCEU initiatives with a Wonder Woman entry has turned it into a joke. And seeing it incorporated in what’s essentially a child’s funeral is bound to raise some eyebrows—and a few sardonic remarks.
The scene ends up feeling like a parody straight out of The Boys.
Netizens React To The Gal Gadot Surprise Appearance
Following the user’s observation of the scene’s tonal incongruence, describing it as the funniest scene to come out of a 2023 project, hundreds of internet users liked the post, and many shared their thoughts. Spoiler warning: they were hilariously vicious. Take a look:
The funniest film scene of 2023 without a doubt goes to the moment where they played Wonder Woman’s rocking electric guitar theme as she makes a surprise cameo appearance at a child’s funeral
— Lady Emily (@GreatCheshire) December 30, 2023
Her theme playing any time she does anything was the best part of the dying days of the DCEU. That lady could order a burger and her rocking guitar riff would play at max volume.
— Nathan Moloney (@NathanMoloney77) December 30, 2023
Gal Gadot’s absolute lack of charisma and that theme playing at full blast will never not be a funny juxtaposition to me
— Punished Taylor: An Idol without a football team (@MyDinnerWAndrei) December 30, 2023
Read more: Gal Gadot Was Not Happy After One Scene From The Boys Mocked Her With The ‘Imagine’ Video
Fuuuuuck it just hit me how insane that juxtaposition is. My main takeaway was “Oh, cool, he gets to live, there went the movie’s stakes.”
— 💙🎬🇵🇸The Reel Jon, Cis Male Hiatus Arc (@TheReelJon) December 30, 2023
LMAO they couldn’t have a tonally appropriate piano or violin iteration of that theme or something? Just BWAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH—
— Zelda ᴮᴸᴹ 🏳️⚧️ (She/Her) – FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸 (@Odeltum) December 30, 2023
How to utterly destroy the tone of a scene, honestly I will miss (not) Wonder Woman appearing with that dumb guitar intro, it’s such a dumb meme 🤣 https://t.co/X89HovP8Yw
— Remnant Tales (@Remnant_Tales) December 30, 2023
With many such scenes, Shazam! Fury of the Gods becomes less compelling in comparison to the previous project. Failing to impress the viewers reflected at the box office, too. The movie amassed $133.8 million worldwide against a $110–125 million budget.
Whether Billy Batson returns to our screens again through James Gunn’s DCU is shrouded in mystery. If he were to make another appearance in a future endeavor, we can only hope it doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the 2023 sequel.
