– Freddy makes reference to “Caped Crusader stuff” which is indeed a Batman thing. Interesting that a dated pop culture term like that still holds true in this world, and this (along with the fact that Batman has a toy line of his own) is a sign of how superheroes are viewed in the DCEU. The toys say “I’m Batman” (presumably in Kevin Conroy’s voice), a line most famously uttered by Michael Keaton in the 1989 Tim Burton movie.

– When we meet Freddy, he is wearing an Aquaman shirt. That’s pretty self explanatory. On the subject of Freddy’s wardrobe, it appears that the Superman logo on his backpack is the New 52 logo, rather than the DCEU one.

– The magical and horror elements of the movie have a distinctly 1980s vibe. David F. Sandberg says that the look and feel of the Sins was inspired by the Demon Dogs in Ghostbusters. The stuff with the light under the door also feels like a Ghostbusters homage, and then Sivana’s lab assistant (played by Lotta Losten who is David F. Sandberg’s wife and also appeared in Lights Out, both the short and the feature length version) croaks, that is another Ghostbusters-esque death.

Of course, any time you put John Glover in a corporate setting, it brings Gremlins 2 to mind, and the gleeful (and horrific) mayhem that ensues during that scene feels like a slightly amped up Joe Dante horror comedy.

And during the toy store fight, Sivana ends up charging at Billy on one of those giant floor pianos, much like Tom Hanks famously played on in Big.

– It’s very possible that security guard “Moran” is more than just an excuse for a joke at the poor guy’s expense. Mike Moran was the alter ego of Marvelman (better known in the US as Miracleman), the UK-only ripoff of the Shazam mythos who gaines greater fame (and infamy) when Alan Moore used him as a test subject for his “deconstructing superheroes” style.

– The song that plays over the end credits is “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” as performed by the pride of Forest Hills, New York, The Ramones. It was written by the brilliant Tom Waits for his essential and disturbing Bone Machine album.

The Post Credits Scenes

– Sivana madly scrawling heiroglyphics and mumbling to himself in order to potentially open a magical doorway seems a little more in keeping with the semi-broken nature of the character from the original comics. But Mr. Mind coming to him in his moment of need is reminiscent both of the end of that New 52 origin story and the end of Shazam: The New Beginning. Basically, Sivana and Mr. Mind have teamed up plenty of times, so this is a great way to set up a sequel. Oh, you probably want to know who Mr. Mind is.

– Mr. Mind is an extra-dimensional worm who feeds on brainwaves, and is capable of getting people to do his bidding. He first appeared in 1943 (created by the Shazam dream team of Otto Binder and C.C. Beck) and was actually the focal point of the first, long form serialized comic book storyline, “The Monster Society of Evil,” which stretched out over two years of comics, at a time when most superhero stories were completely self contained. He was considered so dangerous that he was tried, convicted, and given the death penalty (hey, it was the ’40s) and put to death in a tiny little worm-sized electric chair. Because comics are crazy but also the best.

In more recent years it was revealed that he was merely in his larval stage this entire time, and evolves into something called a hyperfly, capable of devouring the entire DC Multiverse (something he intended and attempted to do). Again, because comics are crazy/the best.

Anyway, I love that they even leaned into the tiny speaker hanging around his neck. And the voice of Mr. Mind? That would be Shazam! director David F. Sandberg again!

By the way, just as this movie was a nearly dead on adaptation of that Geoff Johns/Gary Frank story, the current ongoing Shazam! comic book series seems to be perfect fodder for a potential Shazam 2, with the kids exploring “The Magiclands” that can be accessed via the Rock of Eternity.

I went into much more detail about what these post-credits scenes mean right here.

– I don’t really need to explain that Freddy is talking about the events from the end of Aquaman in that second scene, do I? No? Good.

So, did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter!