Grace Caroline Currey Reflects On Mary's Journey In Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (2024)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods revisits young Billy Batson (aka Shazam, portrayed by Asher Angel and Zachary Levi in each respective form), but this time around his foster siblings are full-fledged superheroes too. Each member of the Shazamily plays a bigger role in the sequel than in the 2019 film, but only Grace Caroline Currey has the distinction of playing two roles. As Mary is the only adult child of the Vasquez household, the actress took on her character's superhero mantle as well as her daily form.

The Shazam sequel pits Billy and his siblings against the blood-related Daughters of Atlas, showing two very different takes on the meaning of family. Mary is in many ways the emotional anchor of her family, but Shazam! Fury of the Gods also sets her up to move in wider circles. Whether or not Shazam joins the DC Universe under James Gunn's leadership, Mary is perfectly prepared to take her skills either into the real world or the superhero one.

Related: Shazam! Fury of the Gods Ending Explained (In Detail)

Screen Rant spoke to Currey about how her previous role in Fall informed her action scenes in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, why she connects so deeply to this particular DC character, and which other genre she'd like to tap into next.

Grace Caroline Currey on Shazam! Fury Of The Gods

Screen Rant: You didn't get to really join in on the fights in the first film. But you play both versions of Mary in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and it's right after you did Fall, which required a lot of physical activity on your part. How did that experience help shape your work here?

Grace Caroline Currey: I think what was so beautiful about doing Fall was that I was living in a stunt harness the whole shoot. So, it was kind of fun when I got to the set for Shazam, and it's time to wear a stunt harness. I'm going, "Actually, I like it when the straps cross this way. Can we do that?" I'm able to be more comfortable for a longer amount of time having a little bit more street smarts, if you will, around the stunt harness. It's a little animal in itself, that is cruel and hurts the longer you were.

If anything, it was a really beautiful gift to have Fall, which was such a boot camp of action and stunts. It meant that on Shazam, I wasn't intimidated. You can feel like a small fish in a big pond on these sets that have massive budgets and cast members like Helen Mirren. It was really lovely to have had Fall and to be able to kind of go, "I know what I'm doing." If anything, this is easy compared to what Fall was.

Speaking of icons like Helen Mirren, you're surrounded by not only big names and veterans but also kids who are just starting out. What was it like going between them, and did you feel like you were meeting people in the middle as Mary?

Grace Caroline Currey: The irony, though, is that the adults are more childlike than the kids. I would be working with the adults quite a bit, and then get on set with the kids and go, "Oh, we're serious. It's time to show up and work!" Whereas the adults were playing video games on set, because our lair was practically built and had video games. Anytime we were shooting in that environment, the boys were playing video games offscreen, and it's like, "Hey, we gotta roll. We're rolling right now, let's go down!" [Laughs]

But no, it was so special to get to bounce between the two, and I got to have the most fun with the whole cast. I think it's always fun when you feel like you're playing with everybody, and you're getting to have the most time with everybody. I'm such a quality-time person, so it's awesome with everybody.

It sounds like the behind-the-scenes could be its own movie.

Grace Caroline Currey: Oh, yeah, totally. We were always at Zach's after shooting, because he had a home out there in Atlanta. His home became our lair, so you get off work and go straight to Zach's for a barbecue or the pool. We're quite the family.

Speaking of families, we get to represent two kinds of families, the Shazamily and the daughters of Atlas. What was your approach to the close-knit foster family and the representation of that onscreen?

Grace Caroline Currey: You've got chosen family or found family, and that's what this Shazam family represents. It's not blood relation, but how wonderful and beautiful that they found each other, and that Victor and Rosa have found these kids. The movie picks up three years later, so Billy has really just accepted this family as his own. So much so that he's holding a little tightly onto it. He doesn't know what it's like to have a family, so this is a first for him.

But then, of course, you have the daughters of Atlas. They're blood-related, and you see a little bit more of the dynamics that you might find due to birth order. The oldest sibling and the youngest sibling, and a little bit of those rivalry dynamics. Definitely, though, they've got their act together a little bit more while the Shazam family is all over the place. Everybody's doing their own thing.

Is there a dynamic that you're most interested in digging into more for Mary?

Grace Caroline Currey: I definitely love the synchronicity that Billy and Mary have. We didn't get to see it in the first movie because the scene was cut, but we had this really sweet scene of Mary telling Billy to give the home a chance, and that people can surprise you sometimes. Basically explaining to him that she wanted ran away quite a bit when she first came.

Mary sees so much of herself in Billy, and there's so many moments of her being able to help Billy not run away from his emotions, or literally not run away from home; to sit with himself and sit with what's going on. I just love how Mary's working behind the scenes a lot of the time with the family. I'd love to see more of that, but I also would love for her to go to college and have a break.

Do you have any headcanons about what Mary has been up to between films?

Grace Caroline Currey: She's been utilizing her superpowers to deliver pizzas. [Laughs] We recently did a comic book; we each wrote our own comic for our character. It's called Shazamily Matters, and in my comic, you see her dog walking. She's using her super flight to be able to let the dogs run as fast as they possibly want to.

But Mary's got a really unique situation where she's the only adult out of the kids. She no longer receives checks from the system, so she's having to now be a contributing member to society; to have a job and make money. Just because she has superpowers doesn't mean that she doesn't have bills to pay. Like, "Wow, I'm a human in this world, and I need to not just take up space. I need to contribute to society." That's what I'd say she's been up to. She's trying to figure out how to fit in this world.

Regardless of the future of the DCU, is there any project coming up in James Gunn's world that you're either excited about or hoping to be a part of?

Grace Caroline Currey: Oh, that's such a good question. I've always just put myself in Mary. Whenever I get those questions of, "What Marvel superhero would you want to be?" or "What other superhero would you want to be in the DC universe?" I'm always just like, "Mary!" There's something that I resonate with so much there. Maybe if Mary was able to make a little cameo somewhere that would be fun. She can deliver pizzas to some heroes!

For yourself personally, are there any career goals you're hoping to accomplish or any genres you want to put feelers out for?

Grace Caroline Currey: Gosh, I always want to be in a period piece so badly. I just want to be in England with horses and gorgeous costuming and English accents in a time when there weren't cell phones. There's so much miscommunication by letter and from gossip. Put me in Jane Austen!

I don't know if I can say that's a goal because it's out of my control a little bit. But I'd love to expand genres and get into something that's more historically-based, or to do a biopic. I think playing a real-life person would be why I got into acting in the first place.

About Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Billy Batson and his foster family continue to fight crime as their adult superhero alter egos. However, powerful new enemies, the daughters of Atlas, target Billy and his family because of their powers. The Shazamily must work together once again to save the world from this dangerous and potentially world-ending threat.

Check out our other Shazam! Fury of the Gods interviews here:

• Zachary Levi
• Marta Milans