With Shazam! star Zachary Levi’s DCEU debut just around the corner, it’s easy to forget that the actor also had a brief stint in the MCU as Thor series regular Fandral.
Replacing Josh Dallas in the role for 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, Levi’s run in the Marvel universe lasted just two movies and ended unceremoniously with his character’s death in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok. But while Fandral and his fellow Warriors Three members Volstagg and Hogun remained largely underdeveloped in the MCU, the heroes have often been far more prominent in the comics, and in an interview with Empire, Levi lamented how the trio never got to live up to their full potential.
“I just don’t think those characters were quite utilized to the best of their abilities,” Levi explained. “Thor and the Warriors Three could have been a really cool little trilogy of team movies, and we didn’t really have that much impact. Particularly not in Ragnarok – I mean, I didn’t even have a line.”
Levi expressed similar sentiments last month in an interview with Screen Rant, but ultimately concluded that he was glad his character was killed off in Ragnarok, since this freed him up to play a much bigger role in Shazam! Better yet, Levi has since told Empire that he hopes for his run in the DCEU to continue, explaining that he’d be particularly keen on joining a certain superhero team.
“I hope I get to be part of the Justice League,” Levi said. “At San Diego, Jason Momoa quite literally took me under his wing, put his arm around me and was like, ‘Welcome to the family.’”
Speaking of Momoa, the phenomenal box office success of Aquaman has put the DCEU in its strongest position in a long time, and Warner Bros. is likely hoping for Shazam! to keep this commercial momentum going when it hits theaters on April 5th, 2019.
Just three weeks after that, Marvel is coming out with Avengers: Endgame, which is due for release on April 26th. While it’s believed that the MCU’s Phase 3 finale will see a few deceased characters and Thor series regulars make a comeback, we wouldn’t bet on Levi being one of those returning players, but from the sound of things, the actor is pretty happy to have moved on.
