Billy Batson Won’t Get Any Special Treatment from His Enemies in Shazam!
As kids, we all dreamed of growing up and being big enough to take down all of our problems and conquer all of our fears. In reality, it turns out that life is just a constant barrage of frustrations, disappointments, and humiliations that none of us are equipped to combat. Which is why we need fun movies! Shazam! (Zachary Levi) is primed to be the most cheerful comic book movie of modern times, which doesn’t fly with the movie’s villain.
Just because the superhero in this story is only 14 doesn’t mean that the bad guys are going to take it easy on him. In fact, quite the opposite. Actor Mark Strong spoke about playing tough cookie Doctor Sivana and cautioned that he wouldn’t be backing down just because he’s battling a kid.
Here’s what he told Cinemablend about the role:
“I don’t think it could ever be too dark. I think especially the more lighthearted the rest of the film is, and this one is. I mean there’s some great comedy to be had with that idea that a 14-year-old boy in a grown up man’s body doesn’t really understand or is able to cope with his powers. I had this discussion with [director] David [F. Sandberg] and Peter [Safran] the producer very early on and said I think Sivana should be like heat seeking ballistic evil. The more frightening you make him, the more you feel that the kids are in jeopardy, and therefore the more that morality term of balance of good and evil plays out satisfactually. I think if he ever steps back and takes his foot off the gas of being dark. it doesn’t serve the purpose of the story, which is he needs to be a terrifying nemesis.”
Doctor Sivana is Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) archenemy in the comics who fled to Venus after he got so sick of humans he didn’t even want to be on the same planet with them. Honestly, can relate some days. However, since then, he’s been getting up to no good. The bitter doc is a mad genius and can see magic with his left eye. In some iterations of the comics, he can also walk through solid walls and objects so he easily evades capture.
It’s interesting to hear that Sivana won’t be treating his foe with kid gloves. This film might get much darker than we expected. With his all-seeing eye, Sivana is probably aware that his rival is just a teenager, which makes him all the more evil. Sometimes becoming a superhero sounds nice, but be careful what you wish for. Every superhero comes with a supervillain and Billy Batson is about to face his.
Shazam! opens in theaters April 5.
Featured Image: (L-r) JACK DYLAN GRAZER as Freddy Freeman and ZACHARY LEVI as Shazam in New Line Cinema’s action adventure “SHAZAM!,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Steve Wilkie/ & (c) DC Comics
