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DC fans are hoping this forgotten villain turns out to be the franchise’s secret mastermind

Could he worm his way back into the DCEU? A Reddit fan theory sees an opportunity for the forgotten villain's grand return.

Shazam!
Image via Warner Bros.

With all of the various reconceptions the DCEU has gone through since it began with 2013’s Man of Steel, the franchise has offered up a bunch of post-credits scenes that have gone precisely nowhere. Lex Luthor pitching his idea for a Legion of Doom to Deathstroke in Justice League 2017 springs to mind. Strangely enough, while Shazam! Fury of the Gods is coming to us from the same creative team as the first movie, it’s looking like the sequel will similarly straight-up ignore the 2019 film’s tag sequence.

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If you need a refresher, Shazam! ended with Mark Strong’s Dr. Sivana being visited by an unlikely ally in prison. Specifically, a talking caterpillar who proposed a team-up. Comic book fans recognized this as Mr. Mind, a genius, telepathic alien worm and leader of the Monster Society of Evil. Clearly, this was setting him up to be the main villain of the follow-up.

We know that Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, as a pair of Greek goddesses, are actually the antagonists of Fury of the Gods, so it seems like director David F. Sandberg has scooped Mr. Mind in a glass and cast him out into the yard of unfulfilled DCEU ideas. Or maybe, just maybe, the extraterrestrial worm is still out there, plotting…

One eager Redditor is pitching the idea that Mr. Mind will ultimately be revealed as the brains “behind everything” in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. “If I’m wrong,” they boldly declared, “I’ll eat my hat.”

Some fans aren’t too convinced of this theory, though, warning the OP to get started early on that meal.

Comment
byu/Pixarfan1 from discussion
inDC_Cinematic

Let’s hope it’s just a baseball cap and not, say, a sombrero.

Comment
byu/Pixarfan1 from discussion
inDC_Cinematic

That’s the coward’s way out.

Comment
byu/Pixarfan1 from discussion
inDC_Cinematic

Others agreed with the fan’s theory or at least echoed their desires for the villain to return, even if they don’t think it’s likely. We’ll find out whether Mr. Mind really is the DCEU’s secret mastermind when Shazam! Fury of the Gods hits theaters on March 17, 2023.