This is a question almost sure to provoke a reaction from diehard fans of DC comics (for better or worse), but what the heck is a god in the DC universe? The comics have their own, relatively definitive answers, categorizing beings as Old Gods, New Gods, demigods, and dozens of other immortal factions. The DCEU, however, hasn’t had the time or need to categorize its super-beings so thoroughly, and it’s led to some confusing plot points and lines of dialogue when it comes to its so-called (or completely unlabeled) gods.
In “Wonder Woman,” Ares tells the Amazon that “Only a god can kill another god.” At the end of “Fury of the Gods,” Wonder Woman introduces herself as a demigod. Back to her first movie, she killed Ares, meaning one or both of their assertions about godhood are wrong. Likewise, the Wizard calls Shazam “a true god,” which could just be metaphorical praise, but Shazam does kill the goddess Kalypso. That would (or at least should) make him a god and therefore mean that first movie baddie Sivana (Mark Strong) could never have succeeded in killing him — unless, of course, his magic made him a god, too. And if both of them are gods due to the Wizard’s magic, then Black Adam must be, too. Added together, all of those ifs and hows form the nagging question: what is a god, anyway?
