‘Shazam! Fury Of The Gods’ To Be “A Lot More Forthright About Pedro Being Gay”

John F. Trent |

Mar 10, 2023

Jovan Armand as Pedro Peña, Rosa Vasquez as Marta Milans, and Asher Angel as Billy Batson in Shazam! (2019), Warner Bros, Pictures

The upcoming Shazam! sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, will make Billy Batson’s foster brother Pedro a homosexual.

Back in 2019 when when director David F. Sandberg was promoting the first film he told PinkNews that the film would include a LGBT character.

Sandberg said, “Don’t want to put spoilers out there or anything, but I think you will see one sooner rather than later.”

The film’s producer and now current CEO of DC Studios Peter Safran also stated, “I think on April 5th it will become clear…”

However, when the film came out, it wasn’t clear there were any LGBT superheroes in the film.

Outlets like CBR attempted to claim that Pedro Peña was gay based on a scene when Billy Batson teleported his foster siblings into a strip club. After exiting the establishment Pedro reacted by saying, “not my thing.”

In a new interview promoting Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the film’s screenwriter Henry Gayden told Dorkaholics, “The only new addition for this movie is being a lot more forthright about Pedro being gay. And that was hinted at in the first movie very subtly.”

Gayden added, “And I thought it was really important and really, really fought for us including that and bringing that to the fore in this movie.”

If Gayden is to be believed and why wouldn’t he, this film is actively trying to normalize homosexuality for children. This is wrong.

A letter to Bishops from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith titled On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons explains, “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder … It is only in the marital relationship that the use of the sexual faculty can be morally good. A person engaging in homosexual behavior therefore acts immorally.”

It further notes, “To choose someone of the same sex for one’s sexual activity is to annul the rich symbolism and meaning, not to mention the goals, of the Creator’s sexual design. Homosexual activity is not a complementary union able to transmit life; and so it thwarts the call to a life of that form of self-giving which the Gospel says is the essence of Christian living.”

“This does not mean that homosexual persons are not often generous and giving of themselves; but when they engage in homosexual activity they confirm within themselves a disordered sexual inclination which is essentially self-indulgent,” the Vatican adds.

The document also points out, “Increasing numbers of people today, even within the Church, are bringing enormous pressure to bear on the Church to accept the homosexual condition as though it were not disordered and to condone homosexual activity. Those within the Church who argue in this fashion often have close ties with those with similar views outside it. These latter groups are guided by a vision opposed to the truth about the human person, which is fully disclosed in the mystery of Christ. They reflect, even if not entirely consciously, a materialistic ideology which denies the transcendent nature of the human person as well as the supernatural vocation of every individual.

In response to this view, the Vatican asserts, “The Church’s ministers must ensure that homosexual persons in their care will not be misled by this point of view, so profoundly opposed to the teaching of the Church. But the risk is great and there are many who seek to create confusion regarding the Church’s position, and then to use that confusion to their own advantage.”

St. Paul also wrote in his Letter to the Romans, ” The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them.

“Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened,” he continued.

“While claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes,” St. Paul wrote. “Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts for the mutual degradation of their bodies. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

“Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions,” he explained. “Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another.”

“Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper,” St Paul added.

Fr. Dave Nix explains this passage writing, “That chapter from Romans is saying that the beauty of creation is enough to show man and woman that those pieces do not go there, even before one gets to the topic of any religion.”