It should be safe to say we won’t get any new Shazam! movies in the upcoming DCU after Fury of the Gods limped past its release date and bombed without the same restrictions other films had a few short years ago. However, with James Gunn in charge, anything is possible.
The Superman: Legacy director, while starting fresh with the Man of Steel, is bringing back some actors he has worked with – namely John Cena – and not others. One person hoping to take advantage of this mercurial loophole is Shazam himself, Zachary Levi.
“I would love to be able to do more iterations of it [Shazam!]. I would love to collaborate with Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern,” he said to ComicBook.com on the promotional circuit for his new film Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.
Levi could play a character other than Shazam but was skeptical he could get a chance at any others in the DC vault. When he was reminded Gunn’s brother Sean would be playing Maxwell Lord in the future, Levi replied in jest, “Listen, when you’re the brother of the guy who runs DC, I guess you get to play who you want.”
Sean Gunn played Calendar Man and Weasel in The Suicide Squad. He revisits the latter in the Creature Commandos animated series while adding GI Robot to his repertoire. Maxwell Lord was embodied by Pedro Pascal in Wonder Woman 1984, but his focus recently shifted to Marvel and the next Fantastic Four film.
Levi revealed he hasn’t had any conversations with James Gunn or Peter Safran, Gunn’s partner at DC Studios and producer of the Shazam! Films. However, he stated earlier in 2023 that he is on good terms with them.
“Listen, I’ve known Peter now for years because he’s my producer on Shazam! and I’ve known James Gunn for even more years,” Levi said. “We have mutual friends and we’ve had game nights together in LA. I’ve been at a Christmas party of his and almost was Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy.”
If they truly move on without him, the actor is proud of what he delivered between the two movies. “I’m really proud of both films. I really think the second film was, in some respects, better than the first. And the first was really good. I’m really proud of both of them,” he said.