Shazam! Star Zachary Levi Breaks Silence on Recast Rumors

By Jenna Anderson

The future of the onscreen DC Universe has been speculated about at length, with new DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran set to usher in a new era of storytelling inspired by the publisher's characters. There have been a flurry of questions surrounding which characters from existing canon may or may not be included in Gunn and Safran's plans, including Shazam! star Zachary Levi, who will next be seen in the sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods in a couple of months. On Tuesday, Levi responded to a tweet from a fan suggesting that Levi might be recast or fired from the role of Shazam! — and indicated that that's probably not the case.

"Oooh, I really wouldn't go believing everything you see on the internet," Levi's tweet reads. "I'm Gucci, Ash. We all Gucci."

Will the DC Universe reboot?

In a thread on social media last week, Gunn promised that some of the rumors surrounding his and Safran's plans for DC Studios are not factually accurate, 

"Peter & I chose to helm DC Studios knowing we were coming into a fractious environment, both in the stories being told & in the audience itself & there would be an unavoidable transitional period as we moved into telling a cohesive story across film, TV, animation, and gaming. But, in the end, the drawbacks of that transitional period were dwarfed by the creative possibilities & the opportunity to build upon what has worked in DC so far & to help rectify what has not. We know we are not going to make every single person happy every step of the way, but we can promise everything we do is done in the service of the STORY & in the service of the DC CHARACTERS we know you cherish and we have cherished our whole lives. As for more answers about the future of the DCU, I will sadly have to ask you to wait. We are giving these characters & the stories the time & attention they deserve & we ourselves still have a lot more questions to ask & answer."

What is Shazam! 2 about?

In Shazam! Fury of the Gods, when Billy Batson and his foster siblings, who transform into superheroes by saying "Shazam!", are forced to get back into action and fight the Daughters of Atlas, they must stop them from using a weapon that could destroy the world in which they must travel in order to make peace with the Gods because of Billy taking their powers for granted.

The film stars Asher Angel and Zachary Levi as Billy Batson / Shazam!, Grace Caroline Currey as Mary Bromfield, Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, Jovan Armand as Pedro Pena, D.J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro, Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez, and Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez. New cast members also include Rachel Zegler in a currently-unknown role, Helen Mirren as Hespera, and Lucy Liu as Kalypso.

Are you excited for Shazam! Fury of the Gods? What do you think of Zachary Levi's newest tweet? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Shazam! Fury of the Gods will now be released exclusively in theaters on March 17, 2023.

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