The road to being the titular superhero in the Shazam films was a long and arduous journey for Zachary Levi, who had gone on multiple auditions to bring life to some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most iconic characters before landing his starring DC role.
These roles included the likes of Steve Rogers in the Captain America films and the Guardians of the Galaxy’s Star-Lord, roles which, as we all know, would respectively go to Chris Evans and Chris Pratt, he revealed on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Levi appeared on the podcast following the rocky theatrical debut of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and spent a good chunk of the interview discussing matters like mental health and the indirect effect the rigorous auditioning process can have on it, even if one is conscious of the fact that rejection is not personal, more often than not.
The Shazam! star dished about his auditions for both Steve Rogers and Peter Quill during the interview, and talked about how he ultimately didn’t have the same “energy” that Chris Evans would ultimately bring to the former role:
“I remember going in for Captain America and I was thinking, well, you know, I look like Rogers pre-serum! Like, clearly they could help me work out and I could get big, but, wasn’t meant to be – I did not have that energy, Chris Evans had that energy. I know I had a great read, I just wasn’t their guy, you know?”
While Zachary Levi would ultimately manage to get a few jabs at Marvel in during the course of Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ runtime, we can’t help but think of an alternate reality in which Levi landed the iconic role of Captain America that has become synonymous with Chris Evans’ likeness.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now in theaters, albeit its initial box office haul was alarmingly middling amidst a healthy dose of criticism and controversy surrounding it.