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New Shazam! Intel Sheds Light On Mark Strong’s Mystery Villain

Entertainment Weekly has uncovered new intel relating to Shazam! and, more specifically, its super-secret villain as played by Mark Strong.

With Shazam!, Mark Strong is really killing two birds with the one stone.

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All throughout his career, the British thesp has gravitated towards villain roles (see: Sherlock Holmes), and he’s even dipped his toe into the comic book genre thanks to Kick-Ass and the ill-fated Green Lantern movie. But for Shazam!, he’s pulling a double whammy.

Having been cast in the role of Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, Strong enters Warner Bros.’ fledgling superhero franchise as a twisted, corrupt figure with a monumental chip on his shoulder – he was the one who initially encountered that famous wizard long before Billy Batson, only to be deemed unworthy. Think Thor, albeit with a touch of magic. So begins Sivana’s quest for revenge, ultimately leading him onto the warpath against Shazam!

And in the eyes of David F. Sandberg, there was only one person capable of playing the movie’s evil doctor:

Mark Strong loves being a bad guy. And it’s not just him, really, it’s… something else … that lent him his powers … he can do some things that Shazam can’t. The danger in some films is the bad guy has the same powers as the good guy. [Sivana] has an extra thing, extra dynamic, that takes care of that….

Coming off Shazam!‘s hilarious SDCC trailer, Sandberg took to Twitter to also reassure viewers that, yes, the DC standalone movie will blend elements of comedy and action – it’s just that the latter is still being rendered by the visual effects team.

Via Twitter:

Shazam! officially lights up theaters on April 5th, and with it comes a bold new era for the DC Extended Universe Worlds of DC. Next on the calling card is the standalone Aquaman movie, which also made a pretty huge splash at Comic-Con this past weekend.