Zachary Levi Admits He Thought He’d Lose Shazam! Role Because of Dwayne Johnson

Zachary Levi admits that he thought that he would lose the Shazam! role because of Dwayne Johnson. It’s wild to think that The Rock will be joining the DC Universe, but Levi believed at one point he’d be taking his spot. David F. Sandberg wasn’t even thinking about putting Black Adam in his film, and that probably helped matters a great deal. Unfortunately for the Shazam! star, he had no idea about this fact when he was getting up the courage to pursue the role. The DC star joined the Nerdbot podcast to tell the story.

“Per the comic books, Black Adam and Captain Marvel – my true namesake – they’re yin and yang to one another. They are identical. It’s actually why I didn’t think I even had a chance of getting this job. He was already cast as Black Adam, I knew enough to know that Captain Marvel/Shazam and Black Adam were basically doppelgängers, just with a slightly different color scheme and haircut. I was like, ‘No one’s gonna hire me to be The Rock’s twin. don’t think this is going to work out.’”

Comicbook.com’s Russ Burlingame was on a set visit and heard the story as well.

“The truth is, I had an appointment slip set up about two months before I got the job. My agency sent me an appointment slip for the role of Shazam in the movie, Shazam!, and I knew that the Rock had already been cast as Black Adam, and so my first reaction is, ‘Why the hell are they sending me this right now?’” Levi recounted. “I emailed them and I said, ‘Hey, aren’t they looking for A, massive stars at the very least B, someone who is a massive person?”

“I knew that yin and yang, even as a cursory Captain Marvel person, who knew very little quite honestly about the character at that point,” Levi continued. “So, I emailed them back and I said, ‘Aren’t they looking for big stars or big guys?,’ and there was kind of a noncommittal, ‘We’re not really sure.’ And so I said, ‘Well, I think I’m gonna pass because I think that might be a waste of time, this doesn’t seem like I’ve got a shot at getting this job, to be perfectly honest.’ And then some time went by, and I was reading on other things or looking into other things, and it came back around, and I got another audition for a completely different role.

He kept going, “I had no idea exactly what the role was but they were sides that were specifically for auditions and I was like, ‘Okay I think I can do one scene.’ I felt like I could probably portray this character. And I put myself on tape and then that was sent to the creative team. Then I get a call from my agent and they said, ‘Hey so what about that role as Shazam that you passed on two months ago? Because they think you actually might be very right for this.’”

Would you have liked to see The Rock be Shazam!? Let us know in the comments!