Audiences don't need to be convinced that the hero is cool; rather, they need to be convinced of the fact that he isn't.

It’s been a long wait, but Monday morning Warner Bros. released the latest trailer for David F. Sandberg’s Shazam!. The film, centering on DC Comics’ former Captain Marvel and current Shazam, saw its first trailer released last July at San Diego Comic-Con. While the previous trailer came as a surprise and highlighted the film’s lighthearted tone and sense of humor, the latest one keeps plot specifics and villainous plans close to the vest, making use of footage released in the previous trailer and TV spots. The trailer still gets the job done in terms of presenting a film that looks like a joy bomb, with jokes geared toward every age range and interest level of DC fan. But in a day and age where each trailer goes for a considerably bigger punch than the last, with no shortage of money shots, plot revelations and villain introductions, Shazam! is quite reserved. While there is so often a desire to satiate fans who want more (and then get too much and want less), the trailer for Shazam! is commendable for its efforts to truly tease.

With so many superheroes landing in our cinemas nearly every other month, it can be a marketing challenge to make each one feel different from the last. Aquaman needed big trailers, full-bodied clips of epic battles that would convince prospective audiences of the fact that Aquaman is cool and does a lot more than talk to fish. While Shazam may be just as much of an unknown to modern audiences, though lacking the negative perception that surrounded Aquaman, his film requires a different strategy. Audiences don’t need to be convinced that Shazam is cool; rather, they need to be convinced of the fact that he isn’t, at least not in the traditional sense, and that’s what makes him unique. There’s no gruff exterior, no war he finds himself caught up in, and no tragic destiny awaiting him (that is, unless Warner Bros. is teeing up Kingdom Come anytime soon). Instead, Shazam! taps into the universal childhood desire to be a superhero. While David Sandberg’s film looks to be most directly inspired by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s 2012 miniseries, it also carries the old-school earnestness and charm of Bill Parker and C.C. Beck’s original comics. The approach of Shazam! doesn’t appear to be based on making the movie fit into our modern expectations of superhero movies, but in going back to the original source material and rediscovering what made the character, once the most popular comic character of the 1940s, so appealing.

Heat Vision breakdown