With the release of the Shazam! trailer comes new details about the film’s villain, Doctor Sivana, played by Mark Strong.
EWcom points out that in the comics there are different backstories, but in Shazam!, Doctor 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.”
The trailer shows Shazam confidently throwing a punch at Doctor Sivana, only for the villain to catch it in mid-air and (probably) blast the 14-year-old superhero.
“Mark Strong loves being a bad guy,” director David Sandberg offered. “And it’s not just him, really, it’s … something else … that lent him his powers … he can do some things that Shazam can’t. The danger in some films is the bad guy has the same powers as the good guy. [Sivana] has an extra thing, extra dynamic, that takes care of that….”
Mark Strong previously offered he is excited to be taking on the role as well.
”I’m playing an evil bastard called Doctor Sivana, they are always the best characters to play, the most fun.” Mark Strong said at the Cirque du Soleil ‘OVO’ at The Royal Albert Hall in London. “I was Sinestro in Green Lantern, which I though 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.”
Shazam! has an April 5, 2019 release starring Zachary Levi as the titular DC Super Hero; Asher Angel as Billy Batson; Mark Strong in the role of Super-Villain Dr. Thaddeus Sivana; Jack Dylan Grazer as Billy’s best friend and ultimate superhero enthusiast, Freddy, part of the foster family that includes Mary, played by Grace Fulton; Darla, played by Faithe Herman; Eugene, played by Ian Chen, and Pedro, played by Jovan Armand. Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans play foster parents Victor and Rosa Vasquez, with Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard.
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).
