Djimon Hounsou is ready to cast a spell over Warner Bros. and DC Films.
Per Entertainment Weekly, the Guardians of the Galaxy and soon-to-be Captain Marvel actor has landed a major role in Shazam! He’ll play the ancient wizard who grants Billy Batson his god-like abilities – abilities drawn from five deities in Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury.
Asher Angel has climbed aboard as the young, 14-year-old Billy, while Zachary Levi will take point as his adult counterpart for a film described as Big meets Superman. How’s that for a departure from the doom and gloom of Justice League?
Circling back to Hounsou, though, and we understand he’ll assume the role originally earmarked for Ron Cephas Jones – EW reports the latter actor was forced to bow out of Shazam! due to a scheduling conflict. It’s a strange twist of fate, too, given Djimon Hounsou will now bear witness to DC’s Captain Marvel four short weeks after he stars in the other Captain Marvel movie. Comic books can be so confusing!
Details of Shazam!‘s first-look trailer are being kept hidden in the Warner Bros. vaults, where they’ll likely remain until the advent of San Diego Comic-Con next month. Aquaman is already a shoo-in for Hall H, though, and in anticipation of DC’s Shazam!, here’s a quick reminder of the magical story that awaits:
We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (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 (Strong).
Shazam! drops into theaters on April 5th, 2019.