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Shazam! Fury of the Gods dropped its first awe-inspiring trailer during DC's San Diego Comic-Con panel. The sequel features double the action and double the Shazam! family, and as a result, it looks even bigger than the first film. The debut of the two villains added to the intrigue surrounding the movie.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods will feature Hespera and Kalypso as the two main antagonists of the film. Played by Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, respectively, the trailer saw them go after a magical staff and battle it out against the Shazam family.
With them being featured in the trailer for the film, let's take a look at their comic origins.
Exploring the origins of Hespera and Kalypso featured in Shazam! Fury of the Gods trailer
Shazam! Fury of the Gods has found its main villains in Hespera and Kalypso, played by Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu. Now, here is the tricky part. The comics never really featured them as villains. As a matter of fact, Hespera and Kalypso aren't characters in the comics at all.
Instead, they draw inspiration from the demi-gods that are a part of Greek mythology. So let's individually take a look at the daughters of Atlas.
Hespera
Helen Mirren will portray the villainous Hespera, inspired by Hesperides from Greek mythology. A collective of Atlas' daughters is known as Hesperides. Also referred to as the Daughters of the Evening, we are not sure if Mirren will be portraying one particular daughter of Atlas since he was said to have anywhere between three to seven of them.
In the movie, you can see her going after the staff and even battling with Shazam in a few scenes. Her villainous appearance means the filmmakers have taken some significant liberties with Greek Mythology. Kalypso, her sister in the film, also doesn't have any relation to Hesperides in the actual mythology.
Kalypso
Over here, Kalypso, portrayed by Lucy Liu, is based on Calypso, the renowned daughter of Atlas. The filmmakers have taken enormous liberties over here as well. In the film, Kalypso is shown to have significant powers, while in the mythology, she doesn't do much.
She lives on the island of Ogygia. Over here, she meets Odysseus, whom she kidnaps and keeps as her prisoner so he can be her husband.
It doesn't look like Shazam! Fury of the Gods will be adapting their stories from the Greek mythologies. In the trailer, they are more enamored with capturing the power of Shazam. There is also another liberty here taken with Rachel Zegler's character.
With her being confirmed to play Anthea, Atlas' daughter, another sister is also added into the mix. However, we won't know what her part in the film is until Shazam! Fury of the Gods releases in theaters on December 21, 2022.
