Zachary Levi’s Bold Shazam! Costume Is a Teenage Superhero Dream

Imagine being transformed into a superhero at only 14 and having the opportunity to create your own suit. It would probably include bright colors, a cape, and things that lights up. After catching glimpses of Zachary Levi’s costume on Instagram, EW released the first image of Shazam’s suit, and it is everything from a fourteen-year-old’s superhero fantasy.

Here, Billy Batson is with his best friend from the orphanage, Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), loitering and drinking sugary drinks as young teens do. We all have cherished memories of those days of chilling with our friends outside the local convenience store. Everything is totally normal here, just two friends hanging out. Except, Billy is an full-grown superhero. Even as Shazam, he is still a kid at heart, just as we are when we see our favorite superheroes flying across the screen.

But let’s get to the actual costume. It’s definitely different than what we’ve come to expect from the DCEU films. Dark and gritty tones typically drive the designs. This suit really is a fourteen-year-old’s dream, with its bright red and yellow color scheme and huge light up lightning bolt plastered across the chest. The suit mixes elements from the newer comics with homage to the classic superhero look. While Ben Affleck’s Batman suit was more akin to military-grade armor, Shazam’s costume reminds us of the tight, stretchy superhero suits we used to watch in cartoons and emulate in Halloween costumes.

Director David Sandberg said that they gave Shazam a shorter cape because, “It makes him feel a bit more golden age superhero, which is the vibe I’m going for.” More modern elements mixed in include the light up bolt on his chest, his gold gauntlets, and a white hood connected to his cape — fourteen is peak hoodie age, indeed.

Shazam! is hitting all the right notes with this costume, combining the modern sensibilities befitting a teenager with the familiar comic book look that we all know and love. Now, all that’s left is to see it on the big screen.

Shazam! bolts into theaters on April 5, 2019.

Featured Image: Shazam! Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.