‘Shazam!’ Covers Entertainment Weekly’s Comic-Con Issue

Entertainment Weekly has spoken the magic word and summoned Shazam, played by Zachary Levi, onto the cover of its Comic-Con International: San Diego 2018 issue.

The cover shows Shazam, essentially a child in a superhero’s body, chewing bubblegum and checking his phone and leaning casually to the side.

Take a look below.

Levi spoke to Entertainment Weekly about playing a superhero with such a unique origin.

“It’s complete wish-fulfillment — if you scour all of DC and Marvel there are very few characters that are actually stoked to be a superhero,” Levi says. “They’re not brooding, they’re not put out, like ‘Oh dammit, I gotta save the world again!’ Billy Batson is like Peter Parker, they’re thrilled to have these powers and can’t wait to try them out.”

Producer Peter Safran hyped Shazam as the next big thing for the DC Extended Universe.

“From my perspective, Shazam! represents the next step in the evolution of the DC brand,” Safran said. “You had Wonder Woman, then Aquaman [coming Dec. 21] is another big step, then comes Shazam! — all different movies, but all have a unique tone that moves away from the darkness of the prior DC movies.”

With all of the buildup over the past few weeks, DC Films fans are anticipating some kind of teaser or trailer for Shazam during the Warner Bros. presentation at this year’s Comic-Con: International San Diego.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:

“We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).”

Shazam opens in theaters on April 5, 2019.

Other upcoming DC Extended Universe movies include Aquaman opens on December 21st, Wonder Woman 1984 on November 1, 2019, Cyborg in 2020, and Green Lantern Corps in 2020.