Does the New 'Shazam!' Footage Tease Dr. Sivana's Origin?

A new Shazam! teaser was released earlier today and fans are already dissecting the new footage for clues about what's to come in the next installment of the DC Extended Universe.

The teaser, which is just under a minute, is a precursor to an upcoming new trailer, which is expected to drop sometime this week. This new teaser provides new footage, including something we suspect to be a sneak peak into the origin of film's villain, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana.

As you can see, the image shows a kid other than Billy Batson, the hero of the film who is given the ability to transform into Zachary Levi's adult superhero, heading into the Wizard's Tomb. If not the film's hero, it seems only logical that it would be the film's villain, right?

The character of Dr. Sivana is being played by Mark Strong, who has co-starred in films such as Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Imitation Game, and Zero Dark Thirty. The actor is no stranger to playing villains, having appeared as the bad guy in various films such as as Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, Kick-Ass, and Stardust (although, he was more of a goofy villain in that one).

Shazam! isn't even the actor's first foray into DC villainy. He also portrayed Sinestro in Green Lantern, a part that was intended to set up the scrapped sequel's main villain.

In a conversation with Celebretainment, the actor spoke about playing Dr. Sivana in Shazam! and why this is his chance to make a comeback within DC.

"I'm playing an evil bastard called Dr. Sivana, they are always the best characters to play, the most fun," Strong explained. "I was Sinestro in Green Lantern, which I thought was a rather good film, but it didn't do what they wanted. So I feel like I've got unfinished business in the DC world. I played a pretty evil character in that, and he was meant to get even worse in the second one but that never happened, but I think I'm going to get the chance to do that in Shazam!, I hope so."

Last summer, an article from Entertainment Weekly shed more light on Sivana's backstory and what makes him Batson's arch-nemesis.

"In Shazam!, 14-year-old orphan Batson is selected by a 3,000-year-old Wizard to inherit his powers due to his pure heart. The film's version of Sivana also encountered The Wizard as a kid — but he was rejected to receive his powers. Ever since then, Sivana has spent his life searching for a way to gain the abilities that Billy now possesses in a desire to live up to the expectations of a domineering father."

Based on that bit of information and the mysterious kid featured in the new teaser, it sounds like we're going to get a flashback of the character's rejection.

Do you think that's young Dr. Sivana in the teaser? Tell us in the comments!

Shazam! hits theaters on April 5, 2019. Other upcoming DC films include Joker on October 10, 2019, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, and Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020.