Movie News

Casting tidbits from SHAZAM! bring a world of ponderings for Precious Roy

Published at: Nov. 3, 2017, 4 p.m. CST by Pekosa Peligrosa

Hola Dannie aqui!Casting tidbits from SHAZAM! bring a world of ponderings for

With casting tidbits from the upcoming film SHAZAM! via our resident sock puppet Precious Roy!

Precious Roy

Last week brought word that Zachary Levi signed on to play the DC Captain Marvel* in the upcoming SHAZAM! movie...

...today comes word that British character actor Mark Strong (Merlin in the KINGSMAN films; Sinestro in GREEN LANTERN) is in talks to play Captain Marvel's nemesis Doctor Sivana, as is Grace Fulton (ANNABELLE: CREATION), who will be playing a friend of Billy Batson’s, and might be playing the film’s love interest.

Strong makes an excellent villain, and if cast, means that the SHAZAM! the movie is likely to be the New 52 take on Doctor Sivana, as the modern Sivana brings Black Adam (played in the film by Dwayne Johnson) directly into the story, and that we’ll be calling the hero (for the most part) ‘Shazam’ instead of his birthright.

Given Strong’s abilities and the depth he brought to Sinestro, this feels like a great move, one that will ensure we see the Sivana who was frustrated in trying to bring about a better world through legitimate means.

The potential casting of Grace Fulton (she’s 21) leaves some doubt about the nature of this Captain Marvel—specifically, what age will Billy Batson be? Will she be the love interest of 30-something Shazam, or of the fifteen-year-old Billy Batson? Or will she be Billy’s unrequited love, pining after Shazam, ala the Margot Kidder Lois Lane? Is Levi playing a Batson at 30, or are they CGI-ing him over a 15-year-old body double to play both the kid Batson and Shazam? (Please let it be this last thing.)

Either way, I am very curious about this quickly growing cast. Despite playing Chuck Bartowski as a clumsy, insecure nerd for years, his performance as the swashbuckling Fandral made a good case for Levi as a strong hero. And without that trademark Bartowski slouch, Levi actually has a very strong frame, one that is similar to Henry Cavill's. As has been said elsewhere, Levi will need to bulk up over the next few months to play the beefy hero, but I can’t wait to see the first image of him personifying Captain—er, Shazam!.