The return of the DC's DCeased zombie apocalypse also hails the return of the series’ version of Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl in her new mantle as the hero Shazam. Recently, DC revealed the final installment in the trilogy - DCeased: War of the Undead Gods - was coming to shelves, as the remaining heroes fight for the fate of the universe against a resurrected Darkseid.
Starting as a six-issue miniseries in 2019, DCeased, created by Tom Taylor and Trevor Hairsine, is set in an alternative DC universe where a corrupted version of Anti-Life Equation has run rampant across the earth, transforming the majority of the population into zombie-like monsters. In the sequel series, DCeased: Dead Planet, Cassandra Cain AKA Batgirl joined a team of heroes led by John Constantine, searching the ravaged globe for powerful magical items. During the team’s trip to the Rock of Eternity, to locate the wizard Shazam’s staff, they came up against an infected Captain Marvel Junior. During the battle Cain took up the staff and spoke the magic word, transforming her into the newest Shazam. With her new powers and trademark brutality, Cain killed Captain Marvel Junior and rescued her team.
Cassie Cain’s Shazam has seemingly been confirmed to be returning for DCeased: War of the Undead Gods, starring in an epic variant cover from artist Dan Mora for the series' first issue (which will come from Taylor and Hairsine.) The art features Cain in her Shazam redesign alongside fellow surviving heroes Cyborg, Lobo, and the DCeased Green Lantern AKA Dinah Lance. The cover shows Cain's redesigned Batgirl/Shazam costume: her iconic all-black, mouthless bat-suit emblazoned with the Shazam family lightning bolt and glowing hands packed with magical power.
It’s hard to imagine that DC will ever be able to produce a cooler Shazam design than this DCeased version. The addition of the classic lightning bolt to Cain’s decidedly grim Batgirl costume is the perfect blend of the two heroes' iconic looks and is perfectly in-keeping with the aesthetic of the DCeased universe. A traditionally family-friendly superhero, Shazam is an early comic-book creation with a bright, friendly design. Much of the charm of making Cassie Cain the latest to bear this power is in how drastically the zombie apocalypse has changed the world that the current Shazam is a black-clad vigilate who was raised as the perfect assassin.
The decision to rotate a member of the grim-and-gritty Bat-Family into the role makes perfect sense in the horror-inspired (yet hopeful) storytelling of DCeased. Cassandra Cain's Batgirl isn't an obvious candidate to become the Champion of Magic, but in a world gone made, she's proving she's worthy of the Shazam mantle.
DCeased: War of the Undead Gods #1 is coming from DC Comics August 9.