zachary levi, james gunn, christopher reeve

SUMMARY

  • Zachary Levi had some things to say about Sean Gunn landing the role of Maxwell Lord in the DCU.
  • The actor was grateful for his work as Shazam, and believed it was comparable to Christopher Reeve's Superman.
  • The actor has said that the future for Shazam is up in the air, and that he would love to be a part of the DCU.

Zachary Levi was among the actors who suffered a heavy loss when WB decided to shut down and reboot the DCEU. He had essayed the role of Shazam. While his evil counterpart, Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam, made his way into the DCEU as well, the two barely got to face off before the franchise was completely trashed.

Zachary Levi in Shazam!Zachary Levi in Shazam!: Fury of the Gods || Credit: WB

Levi has now come out with some criticism of the DCU, especially when it comes to casting. James Gunn is known to cast his friends and family members in projects that he ends up being the head of, and given that he is now heading the entire DCU and beyond, Levi believes that some of the casting might have been because of Gunn having an in with DC Studios.

Zachary Levi believes that he did great work with Shazam! and its sequel

Zachary Levi as ShazamShazam! || Credit: WB

Zachary Levi, speaking with ComicBook.com, opened up about his thoughts on the casting of Sean Gunn in the DCU. He also talked about what he thought Shazam’s future was going to be in the DCU. Regarding Gunn playing Maxwell Lord, he said (via The Wrap):

Listen, when you’re the brother of the guy who runs DC, I guess you get to play whoever you want.

Sean Gunn has so far been confirmed to be in three roles in the DCU. He already essays the roles of Weasel and G.I. Robot in Creature Commandos and will essay the role of Maxwell Lord as well, taking over from Pedro Pascal, who essayed the role in the DCEU. Zachary Levi also talked about the future of Shazam in the DCU, given that there are still actors who have managed to retain their roles from the DCEU, such as Viola Davis and John Cena.

Zachary Levi wants to collaborate with Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern

superman teaser trailer guy gardner nathan fillionNathan Fillion in Superman || Credit: DC Studios

Zachary Levi revealed how exceptionally grateful he was for the character that he played in the DCEU, talking about how he would be proud if the first Shazam! and Fury of the Gods were all that he would get to do. He said:

But if I only ever got the shot to do the first two films, [I’m] very grateful for that opportunity because it’s such a delightful character to play. It’s Christopher Reeves in ‘Superman’ and Tom Hanks in ‘Big’ in one role, and that was my childhood, and so like, getting to bring that to life was so much fun. I would love being able to do more iterations of it. I would love to collaborate with, like, Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern.

Shazam!, at the time of its release, was hailed by fans for being able to capture the essence of the character, which largely relied on how the audience and viewers felt when they thought about having powers like Shazam. Being compared to Superman as a character, Shazam was also attributed to have vicariously fulfilled the fantasy of children who wanted to be Superman themselves, adding to the praise that the film got.

Shazam! is streaming on Netflix.

James GunnZachary Levi

Written by Anuraag Chatterjee

Articles Published: 1210

Anuraag Chatterjee, Web Content Writer
With a passion for writing fiction and non fiction content, Anuraag is a Media Science graduate with 2 year's experience with Marketing and Content, with 3 published poetry anthologies. Anuraag holds a Bacherlor's degree in Arts with a focus on Communication and Media Studies.