'Shazam!' Star Mark Strong Teases Really Funny Moments in the Film

Mark Strong may be playing the villain in DC Films' Shazam movie, but he promises there will be plenty of laughs to go around.

Speaking to Total Film, Strong explained that Shazam will show the lighter side of the DC Universe.

"Zachary Levi, who plays the lead [Shazam, the superhero alter ego of Billy Batson], is a very funny guy, and I've no doubt he will play with that part and make it interesting," Strong says. "I think DC have realized that they've got their canon of films that are dark, and they've now found one that's pretty funny! There are some really funny moments in it."

Strong previously played Sinestro in the Green Lantern movie and he's still disappointed that he didn't get to follow through the character's villain turn that was teased in the film.

"Sinestro was meant to go evil in the second one," explains Strong. "The final frame of the first film is him trying on the yellow ring and his whole costume going yellow, and that was when he went evil. So I was really looking forward to that. The film didn't do as well as they expected… so it never got made. So I was definitely conscious that Sivana is almost like the next stage that I wasn't able to take."

Strong has previously explained that playing Sivana is an opportunity to finally follow through on that missed opportunity.

''I'm playing an evil bastard called Doctor Sivana, they are always the best characters to play, the most fun." Strong revealed. "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.

''I've been training like a madman. I'm about to go over and see the stunt guys, I've been trying all of these harnesses on and I think I'm going to be doing lots of flying around and firing electricity out of my hands.''

You can get an idea of Strong's training by watching this video. For an idea of what Sivana's role in the DC Universe is, here's a glimpse at the Sivana Industries logo, provided by director David F. Sandberg.

Shazam currently has a 3.69 out of 5 ComicBook.com User Anticipation Rating, making it the 19th most anticipated upcoming comic book movie among ComicBook.com Users. Let us know how excited you are about Shazam by giving the movie your own personal ComicBook.com User Anticipation Rating below.

Shazam will open in theaters on April 5, 2019.

Other upcoming DC Extended Universe films include Aquaman on December 21, 2018, Wonder Woman 2 on November 1, 2019, Cyborg in 2020, and Green Lantern Corps in 2020.