Who are Hespera and Kalypso? Shazam 2 villains, explained

Shazam 2 is set to be released pretty soon and is introducing two original villains to DCEU. So far, the old DCEU has introduced a ton of super-powered villains. Man of Steel and Batman V Superman brought in Zod and Doomsday, who were both arguably even more powerful than Superman.

Then came Steppenwolf, and a tease of Darkseid in Zack Snyder's Justice League. Before that, Wonder Woman fought Ares in the past, and Maxwell Lord also became a villain with God-level abilities. Black Adam fought Sabbac, and Shazam battled Doctor Sivana along with the Seven Deadly sins in his first film.

So, DCEU’s Earth has clearly seen a lot of villains whose powers are beyond imagination. Now, Shazam 2 is introducing literal Demi-Goddesses that the Shazam family will have to deal with. Earth will be in danger yet again as Shazam will face Kalypso and Hespera - the strongest villains he has ever fought.

Who are the villains of Shazam 2?

Hespera and Kalypso in Shazam 2 (Image via Warner Bros Pictures)

In the upcoming film, Lucy Liu plays Kalypso while Helen Mirren plays Hespera. Shazam 2 director David F. Sandberg and others created these two original DC villains specifically for the Shazam sequel. Kalypso and Hespera come in as the ill-intended daughters of the Greek God Atlas, who has shown up multiple times in the comics.

Atlas has been portrayed as both good and bad depending upon the story he is involved in. He's one of the six Gods who provides Shazam with his Godly powers, and Shazam gets his never-ending stamina from him.

Hespera and Kalypso also have a mystery sister named Anthea (played by Rachel Zegler), but nothing much is known about her yet. Not much is known about Kalypso and Hespera either, as the creatives came up with these characters recently.

They don’t have any counterparts in the pages of DC. However, since they are a part of Greek mythology, there is quite some information about the two sisters' individual powers and abilities that people know of.

Hespera

Atlas has three nymph daughters called the Hesperides. They are also known as the Nymphs of the West, Daughters of the Evening, or perhaps even Atlantides, but it was just Hespera who was a part of the Hesperides. Kalypso wasn’t included in them.

The Hesperides are the ones who provide light to Earth during sunset. These sisters protected the golden apple tree in a garden together. They used their beautiful voices to convince people who visited their garden to dance with them to death.

Hespera alone is super strong and is called the “Goddess of Immortality.” As far as the question of her integrity is concerned, she is relatively neutral on the scale of good and evil. However, this may not be the case in the DCEU as she has come after Billy and his family’s powers alongside her sister Kalypso.

They think that these kids stole the powers of Atlas and five other Greek Gods, and so, they want those powers back and annihilate the whole world.

Kalypso

She is a nymph who is called a Goddess of Strange Power and Beauty. Living on the island of Ogygia, she possesses healing powers, can cast and manipulate powerful magic. She can even cast unbreakable curses.

This immortal demi-goddess is also skilled in Aerokinesis, which means that she can control and manipulate air up to a certain extent. She can also construct and manipulate technology through her magical Technokinesis ability. One of the other crazy power that she possessed was that she could look into the past.

However, things get very interesting in DCEU as she brings in a fire-breathing dragon. Due to her dragon-riding capabilities, Billy even went on to call her Khaleesi, making a pop-culture reference to Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones.

The trailers of Shazam 2 also suggest that she possesses super strength similar to that of her sister.

The motivations of Hespera and Kalypso

Hespera and Kalypso in Shazam 2 (Image via DC)

Looking at the trailers, the two demi-Goddessess come off as evil masterminds. From past set leaks, we’ve known that Rachel Zegler’s Anthea will fall for Freddy. However, according to the trailer, all that seems to be a ploy set up by Hespera and Kalypso to lure Freddy in. They take his powers away through the Wizard’s magical staff.

The Wizard’s magic staff was introduced in Shazam!, and was broken apart, but now, the two sisters have somehow fixed it. The staff also gives them the ability to take Shazam and his family’s powers away. The trailer showed Hespera depowering Freddy with the staff’s magic. Kalypso also did the same to take Mary’s powers away.

So, Shazam 2 will showcase the two demi-Goddesses taking the Shazam family’s powers away in order to destroy Earth.

The role of Anthea

Rachel Zeggler as Anthea in Shazam 2 (Image via DC)

Rachel Zeggler’s Anthea seems to be on the sisters' side at first, but after falling for Freddy, it is possible that she’d switch sides and help the Shazam family. She’d go up against her sisters, who reverted Freddy and Mary back into their human selves.

As the trailers suggest, both Freddy and Anthea might end up killing Hespera as she is nowhere to be seen in the final battle between Billy Batson and Kalypso.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods will be released in theaters on March 17, 2023.