These days, casting news for New Line and DC Entertainment's SHAZAM! is coming faster than you can recite the acronym for the titular hero's name (Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury). Not long ago, we'd learned that CHUCK's Zachary Levi would be suiting up as Shazam!. Then, word came on the wind that ANNABELLE: CREATION actress Grace Fulton had joined the film as one of Billy Batson's friends, while Mark Strong is in talks to play the villainous Thaddeus Sivana – Dr. Sivana.
Today, it's been announced that Disney star Asher Angel will appear in the film as Billy Batson, the boy who transforms into the barrel-chested basher of ne'er-do-wells. Angel's most notable credit in his young career hails from the Disney Channel family comedy ANDI MACK, where Angel plays the character Jonah Beck, a teen love interest of the show's lead character, Andi.
With David F. Sandberg (ANNABELLE: CREATION) at the directorial helm, SHAZAM! will share the superhero story which centers on a boy named Billy Batson who can transform into an adult superhero by uttering the magic word "Shazam!" This is obviously a huge break for Angel, as appearing alongside Hollywood royalty in a major superhero film will certainly place the young actor in a white, hot spotlight. Here's hoping that he can deliver a worthy performance. After all, it's not every day that a boy who's only 15-years-young gets to represent one half of comic book titan on the silver screen.
SHAZAM! will arrive in theaters beginning on April 5, 2019.