DC Films is in a weird place right now. The two characters that should be its biggest brand — Batman and Superman — have been pulled through the dirt of “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice” and “Justice League,” and there are no plans for either character on the immediate horizon. Loose talk about a possible “Man Of Steel” sequel continues to be tossed around, while Matt Reeves‘ “The Batman” (which likely won’t even star Ben Affleck) is still without a release date. So, the series is hanging entirely on “Wonder Woman,” which gets a sequel next year and, uh, “Shazam!”
So far, we’re not sure what to make of this effort, which has unlikely leading man Zachary Levi (“Chuck,” “Alias Grace“) in the title role, and David F. Sandberg (“Lights Out”) behind the camera. But tonally, it sounds like something very different than the gritty world Zack Snyder pushed forward during his time with DC.
“I can’t tell you much, as you can probably imagine, but what I can say is I am just out of my mind excited! 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,” he told ET. “It’s not glum, and like, ‘Oh, I have to save the world again.’ So I think it’s all really gravy.”
Certainly, DC could use a few heroes that don’t feel bummed out or conflicted about being called into action. The only other hero with that view is Wonder Woman, and Levi is keeping his fingers crossed that Gal Gadot might stop by the set.
“I think it would be really funny to have the 14-year-old Billy Batson inside of Shazam that’s really awkward around this beautiful Amazonian. I just think that would be really awesome,” Levi said.
Co-starring Mark Strong as the villain, “Shazam!” arrives on April 5, 2019.