DCEU has finally made a shocking and surprising choice in the form of Zachary Levi to play Shazam. Marvel fans know him as Fandral from the Thor movies. Shazam is a massive comic book character in DC universe and is dubbed as the “Earth’s mightiest mortal” powerful enough to hold his own even against the Superman. DC’s Shazam! is currently in pre-production and may start filming as soon as in February 2018. Zachary Levi has been officially cast as the grown-up superhero Shazam but DC is still searching for the right candidate to play the young Billy Batson, a.k.a Shazam!. In case you don’t know this already, the story revolves around a young boy named Billy Batson who has the ability to transform himself into an adult superhero by saying the magical word “Shazam!“. DC fans know that the word SHAZAM is actually an acronym of 6 powerful and famous Greek elders; Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. As soon as Billy transforms into Shazam, he can demonstrate godly strength, speed, flight, and other powers.
Levi is known for playing comedic roles and is mainly famous for his work in NBC’s Chuck. As mentioned earlier that he played the role of Fandral in Thor movies which was more in the capacity of a comic relief rather than an actual superhero. Shockingly, Levi beat a lot of big names like John Cena, Zane Holtz (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) and Jake McDorman (Limitless) to land this epic role. WWE superstar turned actor John Cena was seriously being eyed to play the role of Shazam mainly due to his massive physique that goes perfectly with the character’s demand. However, now since Zachary Levi has officially landed the role, it looks like he may be bulking up and hitting the gym big time over the next few months to look the part.
DCEU has picked Annabelle: Creation director David F. Sandberg to helm the Shazam movie which is about to enter production. Sandberg is known for his brilliant horror flicks like this year’s smash hit Annabelle: Creation and last year’s dark horse entry, Lights Out. Both the movies were made on very modest budgets but went on to make at least 3 times more than the cost at the box office. Shazam will be officially hitting the theaters on April 5, 2019, and originally, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was set to appear in the movie as the nefarious Black Adam but that won’t be the case now. However, according to THR reports, the mega action star will have his solo Black Adam movie which will be “concurrently” developed alongside Shazam. Zachary Levi is definitely the least expected and interesting choice for the role and we’ll make sure to keep you updated with all the developments. Stay tuned for more and latest Hollywood news.
