Shazam! may not have managed to hit the billion-dollar heights of Aquaman at the box office, but the movie nonetheless did solid business, and also became the most critically-acclaimed installment in the DC Extended Universe to date. Although a sequel hasn’t yet been given an official release date, star Zachary Levi is already raring to go and wants to get the follow-up in front of cameras sooner rather than later.
The obvious direction to go for the franchise is to see Shazam! square off with his arch-enemy, Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam, with the latter finally gearing up to start shooting after years of delays. In fact, Black Adam has been so long coming that Johnson initially signed on to play the title character way back in 2007.
With a director in place, and concrete updates from both the producers and Johnson himself regarding the status of the project, fans are already speculating about the super-powered anti-hero showing up in possible Shazam! sequels. One of the highlights of the first movie was Levi’s charismatic and excitable performance as the title character, and it turns out that the actor is exactly the same out of the costume, and could barely contain his joy as he revealed his excitement at the thought of going toe-to-toe with Dwayne Johnson on the big screen.
“The fact that I now get to be the Captain Marvel to his Black Adam, that I get to fight Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in an action movie? Are you crazy? I get to punch The Rock in the face, people! I get to do that! Who gets to punch The Rock in the face? It’ll probably be in his contract; ‘Not allowed to punch me.'”
Having been attached to the role for so long, the hardest-working man in the industry is sure to pull out all of the stops to make Black Adam a success, especially as it marks his long-awaited debut in the superhero genre. Zachary Levi might struggle to keep a lid on his excitement for that long though, as it’s been reported that the two won’t face off until the third installment of the Shazam! franchise. Until then, the other Captain Marvel will have to make do with taking on somebody else from his back catalogue of comic book villains.