Zachary Levi puts on a superhero suit in next year’s “Shazam!,” but would the character win in a fight against super-villain Black Adam?
“Physically, they are literally exactly matched,” Levi told TheWrap while promoting “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” “Then it’s just a matter of will and I think good has to prevail over evil. This is a tale as old as time — good has to win. Otherwise, I don’t know what the hell we’re doing!”
Black Adam is best known in DC Comics as the main nemesis of superhero Shazam.
DCEU films thus far have included “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” “Suicide Squad,” “Justice League” and “Wonder Woman,” most of which were panned by critics. But that didn’t deter Levi from wanting to be part of the shared universe.
“I feel nothing but excitement and gratitude — such tremendous gratitude,” he said. “These roles come along once in a very blue moon: playing superheroes, getting to be the titular character of a franchise and in this character specifically, it’s the movie ‘Big’ meets the movie “Superman!’ I get to play a 14-year-old living in an adult superhero body!”
While he can’t tell us a lot about the upcoming film directed by David F. Sandberg (sorry guys, we tried!), Levi does promise a movie that will “speak to the kid in all of us” and also pay homage to all iterations of Captain Marvel. Technically, Shazam was the first Captain Marvel, resulting in one character of the name for Marvel and one for DC. Because of trademark conflicts, DC has branded and marketed the character as Shazam.
“It’s super fun and wish fulfillment for me but the movie itself is very wish fulfillment because it speaks to the kid in all of us who dreamt of being a superhero one day,” Levi explained. “There have been so many iterations, and I think we were able to compile them all into this movie and into this character and hopefully diehards of all ilk will be able to watch it and enjoy. It might not be everything they ever wanted it to be, but what movie is?”
“Shazam!” will hit theaters on April 5.
Watch the video above.
