Shazam! was a huge hit as the superhero movie made over $360 million worldwide. The success of Shazam! has led DC Films and Warner Bros. to produce the next installment — Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which will be released in 2023. PopCulture.com recently caught up with actor Zachary Levi who stars as the title character and teased what powers he will have in the new movie after Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has hinted at his own for Black Adam.
“You’ve seen all my powers basically in the first movie,” Levi told PopCulture. “You’ll see all of that, and you’ll see it in spades. We have a lot of fun in the new one. We had more time, more budget. We got the whole cast coming back. Everyone’s more sunk into their character. It was a ball. It was great. I’m very excited for it.”
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The character Shazam — then known as Captain Marvel — debuted in 1939 but didn’t make its way to the DC universe until 1972. The 2019 film showcased Shazam as a man that has superhuman strength, speed and flight along with other abilities. His alter ego is a young boy named Billy Baston who summons Shazam by saying his name. Shazam! earned positive reviews from critics, earning a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Shazam! Fury of the Gods will bring back the cast from the 2019 film along with new members, including Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu. Shazam! Fury of the Gods finished filming in August and is set to be released on June 2, 2023.
But while fans wait for Shazam! Fury of the Gods to be released, fans see Levi in a new movie on Christmas Day. He stars as NFL legend Kurt Warner in the film American Underdog. Levi told PopCulture that learning football was challenging but loved working with the cast and telling the story of a man who had an interesting journey to the NFL.
“The acting and emotional stuff, that’s more my wheelhouse, that’s stuff that I’ve been doing my whole life,” Levi said. “And so being able to access that, plus having great scene partners, Anna [Paquin] was so great. Young Hayden [Zaller], who played Zach, was so great. Ser’Darius [Blain]. Oh gosh, everybody. We had such a stellar cast. And everybody jumped in. And it was crazy, because we were doing it in the middle of the pandemic, which was surreal in and of itself, and limiting, and makes it a little more difficult. But I think, all in all, we really did make a little magical movie that I’m so stoked is coming out on Christmas.”
American Underdog is in theaters on Dec. 25. Get your tickets at Fandango now, and look out for early screenings on Dec. 17.
