Zachary Levi Compares SHAZAM! To Your Favorite Tom Hanks Movie

We all know that the DCEU movies are in a weird spot. 

Justice League is going to go down as one of 2017's weirdest failures, while The Batman will probably not even feature the current Bruce Wayne (as Ben Affleck keeps dropping hints that he wants out of that cape and cowl). James Wan's Aquaman will release in December of 2018, sporting Jason Mamoa shouting "YEAH YUH!" and hopefully some cool underwater set pieces. But after the franchise's main two icons - Batman and Superman - failed to really catch on in their new Snyderized iterations, how does the franchise keep going? 

Apparently, it may be up to some of the lesser known heroes in the DC Universe to swoop in and save the day, and Zachary Levi - who was recently cast as the new Shazam! - has some thoughts regarding how his comic book adventure is going to look. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, he said:

“I can’t tell you much, as you can probably imagine, but what I can say is I am just out of my mind excited! I get to do my version of Big, basically. It’s like Superman meets Big and that’s just so fun. I get to be a superhero that’s excited about being a superhero, and I think that’s refreshing."

He went on to describe the movie's tone, which is intriguing given the string of DCEU movies we've seen thus far:

"It’s not glum, and like, ‘Oh, I have to save the world again.’ So I think it’s all really gravy.”

While Levi (and, by proxy, the character's) enthusiasm is admirable, it's going to take quite a bit to get viewers (especially the rabid fan base) to accept this sort of lighter shift. But Levi's hoping to bump into a few of the other DC icons while he's on set for Shazam!, especially one Diana Prince:

“I think it would be really funny to have the 14-year-old Billy Batson inside of Shazam that’s really awkward around this beautiful Amazonian. I just think that would be really awesome."

Shazam! is going to be a big test for the DCEU moving forward, so it'll be fascinating to see if that boyish energy Levi's projecting will make it into the final character.

Shazam! hits theaters April 5, 2019.