The role of the hero of the "Shazam!" movie has been cast, and it is someone who shares my initials: Zachary Levy!
Zachary Levy starred as a reluctant secret agent in the successful TV series "Chuck" (of which I had a T-shirt that I got at San Diego Comic Con years ago. Wish I still had it. It has just gone up in value in my esteem) and played Fandral the Dashing in the "Thor" movies. He was also in such movies as TV shows at "Heroes Reborn," "Tangled," and "Alvin and the Chipmunks." He's got the eyebrows and the smile, but is going to have to go on a Christopher Reeve-style bodybuilding program to match the traditional build of the World's Mightiest Mortal.
You will notice I did not call the hero "Captain Marvel" right of the bat. There is still some confusion and ambiguity as to whether that will be the hero's name in the movie. Most of director David F. Sandberg's Instagram lg of his production process has shown the traditional Fawcett-DC version of Captain Marvel, but one New 52 "Shazam" action figure did show up. The clickbait press has been reporting that the "Seven Deadly Sins" may be a villain and that characters that may be the adoptive family of Billy Batson in the New 52 have been showing up in casting notices.
Since Marvel Comics/Disney owns the trademark "Captain Marvel," DC/Warners cannot use that name in the title or on the poster. They can, however, call the original Captain Marvel by his name in the scrip and on the comic book page. It is my contention that the New 52 character is a separate character from the original Captain Marvel or any other versions of him that DC has produced (see my video "Captain Marvel History" for an explanation). It has been established that there is a "multiverse" in DC, and that on Earth-5 exists the original.
I did talk with Dan Didio at NY Comic Con about this briefly, and I will be making a video with his answer to the question soon. It may shock some people!
Lots of websites seem to be using the New 52 version interchangeably with the classic version, and the description of the character in every one of these newsposts I have seen describe the character generically enough that it sounds like the original, but might not be incorrect if applied to the New 52 version.
But until I see a piece of footage or read a bit of script in which the hero is named, I will continue to be ambiguous and hold out for the classic version of the Big Red Cheese.
And now, the traditional "clickbait roundup" of the story:
It all started here:
Variety
And everyone else...
Comicbook
Deadline
Hollywood Reporter
Vulture
iO9.Gizmodo
Silver Screen Beat
EW
Heroic Hollywood
Movie Pilot
Ace Showbiz
Digital Spy
ecartelera
Omelete
L'Info Tout Court
Lo Spazio Bianco
That's all I have time for today. Keep an eye on this post, for I will update it with more clickbait links this weekend!
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