Zachary Levi will suit up as ‘Shazam’ for the upcoming movie from DC and New Line…
‘Shazam’ has a leading man.
Zachary Levi — best known for his five season run on the cult classic TV series ‘Chuck’ as well as appearances in series such as ‘Heroes Reborn’ — has been cast in the lead role for the upcoming DC film ‘Shazam’.
The movie is based upon a DC Comics character named Billy Batson, who transforms into the super human hero by echoing the word ‘Shazam!’, summoning the powers of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury — thus the name ‘Shazam’. The origin story for the character has changed slightly over the years but the basic premise is Billy Batson is granted the powers of Shazam by a wizard, who deems him pure of heart and passes down the incredible powers after he becomes too old to use them any longer.
David F. Sandberg, who directed ‘Annabelle: Creation’ as well as ‘Lights Out’ will be the man behind the camera for ‘Shazam’.
It’s a huge move for Levi, who has been attached to several supporting roles since ‘Chuck’ ended including an appearance in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ as one of the God of Thunder’s trusted advisors with that movie opening next week. Several other actors had been considered for the role including WWE superstar John Cena.
As for ‘Shazam’, the movie was originally supposed to pit the hero against comic book foe Black Adam, who will be portrayed by Dwayne Johnson, but as production started to draw nearer the studio decided to put him in his own starring film instead. There’s no word if Johnson could make a cameo appearance in ‘Shazam’ or not.
What we do know for certain is that ‘Shazam’ is expected to shift into production rather quickly with filming for the movie kicking off in February 2018 with a 2019 release date in theaters, although no specific date has been confirmed.
