Umberto Eco maintained in his classic study that the superhero is by definition an ambiguous figure. superheroes, all of them, are there to remind us that we are mortal, that each of their strengths corresponds to each of our most intimate weaknesses.

The last two releases with muscular types at the front have resulted in two failures. Neither Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Peyton Reed) nor Shazam! The fury of the gods (David F. Sandberg) has measured up.