Djimon Hounsou joins the cast of Shazam! as the Wizard

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Hold on. Hasn't production on SHAZAM! already wrapped up? And wasn't Ron Cephas Jones (This is Us) up for the role of the 3,000 year-old wizard who gave the young Billy Batson his powers? Turns out that Warner Bros. had been able to keep the news under wraps, as Entertainment Weekly was able to reveal that Djimon Hounsou's casting had gone under the rader until now.

EW adds that while it was widely reported that Ron Cephas Jones would be filling the role, scheduling conflicts kept it from happening. Djimon Hounsou's character is a "3,000 years old sorcerer from Ancient Egypt who uses his powers to fight evil and has been seeking a successor to carry on his mission. He passes his power to Billy who only needs to shout his name — SHAZAM — to instantly become a superhero with an array of powers." SHAZAM! stars Zachary Levi as Shazam, with Angel Asher playing the 14-year-old Billy Batson, and Mark Strong the villainous Dr. Thaddeus Sivana. This won't be Djimon Hounsou's first comic-book role, as he's previously appeared as Papa Midnite in CONSTANTINE and Korath the Pursuer in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and he'll be reprising the latter role for the upcoming CAPTAIN MARVEL. With the Marvel flick also set to hit theaters next year, Hounsou has managed the rare feat of appearing in both the Marvel and DC universes in a single year. As for when we might finally get a look at SHAZAM!, well, let's keep our fingers crossed that something emerges at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con

The official synopsis for SHAZAM!

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! is slated for a April 5, 2019 release.