The huge bads of Shazam's latest journey have never seemed in comics, at least, not with the identical names.
Shazam Won The Hearts Of The Fans After His First Debute In 1939's Whizz Comics #2.
Where He Appeared As Captain Marvel.The character has consistently outperformed competitors Superman and Batman, thanks to its quirky premise and unique gallery of villains.Readers return each month to watch Captain Marvel battle mad scientist Dr. Sivana, magical villain Black Adam, and the Monster Society of Evil, led by the telepathic space worm Mister Mind. So even though Shazam! featured a variation of Doctor Savana and Black Adam starring in his own solo film, the producers of Shazam! Fury of the Gods has a lot of comic options in choosing the next villain to battle Billy Batson and his superpowered family.
So it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that the film's antagonists are the Daughters of Atlas, characters with no apparent antecedent in the comics. Who are these evil gods and how do they relate to established comic book characters?
Helen Mirren as Hespera
As seen in the recently released trailer, Helen Mirren stars as Hespera, who leads the Daughters of Atlas against Shazam and his wizard mentor to reclaim the power they stole from the gods. Hespera is a variation of the Hesperides from Greek mythology, nymphs of dawn and dusk. They usually protect the garden with golden apple trees, sometimes helping those who meet them, other times as tricksters. The Hesperides are often depicted as daughters of Atlas and appear in the stories of Hercules and Jason and the Argonauts. Aside from small references here and there, neither Hespera nor the Hesperedies appear in DC Comics. However, some glimpses of Hespera shown in the trailer are reminiscent of Wonder Woman villain Circe. Based on the witch from Homer's Odyssey, Circe starred in the 1991 DC Comics crossover War of the Gods, pitting Shazam (then Captain Marvel) against Wonder Woman. Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg can try to use Hespera as a version of that villain without stepping on Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins' toes.