'Shazam!' Teaser Trailer: DC Hopes They’ve Found The Magic Word With Zachary Levi

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If you’ve been hoping DC Films would try something (anything!) different from what they’ve been doing, your wish may be granted with the upcoming “Shazam!” At the very least, the character isn’t expected to join the Justice League.

While the ability to turn invisible whenever DC Films starts pitching new Justice League ideas is a heroic feat in its own right, that’s not the only thing separating “Shazam!” from the pack. The tone is also apparently far lighter than other DC Films. As star Zachary Levi told ET, “I get to do my version of ‘Big,’ basically. It’s like ‘Superman‘ meets ‘Big,’ and that’s just so fun. I get to be a superhero that’s excited about being a superhero, and I think that’s refreshing. It’s not glum, and like, ‘Oh, I have to save the world again.'”

If you’re familiar with the character’s lore, a friendlier tone makes sense (as does the all-too-predictable controversy surrounding leaked photos of a costume that some find too silly). Shazam is a 14-year-old boy who can temporarily gain a superhero’s powers, and his backstory is full of wizards, lightning bolts, and magic words. He’s a character who simply wouldn’t jibe with the dour, melodramatic atmosphere employed by other moves in the DC Extended Universe. Hopefully, director David F. Sandberg (“Annabelle: Creation,” “Lights Out“) can successfully straddle that fine line between charmingly wholesome and embarrassingly hokey.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“We all have a superhero inside us; it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one word–SHAZAM!–this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Zachary Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still, a kid at heart–inside a ripped, godlike body–Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).”

Co-starring Grace Fulton, Jack Dylan Grazer, Ian Chen, and Ron Cephas Jones, “Shazam!” opens April 5th, 2019.

Btw, here’s the SDCC panel if you want to watch it in full.