How The Shazam! Cast Should Really Look

Originally called Captain Marvel, the character we now know as Shazam was created in 1939 by artist, CC Beck, and writer, Bill Parker. DC was forced to change the name of the hero after it failed to utilize him for over a decade and Marvel crept in to copyright the Captain Marvel moniker. From that moment on, the World's Mightiest Mortal has gone by the title Shazam, the word that Billy Batson has to utter when he wants to transform into the super-powerful, super-stacked hero pictured above. As you can see, the costume crafted for leading man Zachary Levi was heavily inspired by the comics.

The character has bulked up quite a bit in the many years since his debut, but the Captain Marvel/Shazam getup hasn't really changed all that much. His predominantly red suit is offset by a lightening bolt insignia across the chest, which at present is an electric blue color in the comics. For the movie, costume designer Leah Butler went with a yellow lightening bolt, a throwback to the character's original outfit. The collar, meanwhile, is Greek influenced, a nod to the gods that grant Shazam his wide array of powers. "The pattern on [the suit fabric] is also taken from Greek and Roman," Butler told ScreenRant. "There's also that sort of Greek key pattern as well on the cape."

The disabled kid that Batson rescues from a beatdown in the first Shazam! trailer is Freddy Freeman, who first appeared in 1941's Whiz Comics #25. In the original story, Freeman is left crippled in one leg after the terribly outdated Captain Nazi murders his grandpa and leaves him for dead. Shazam rescues the boy by temporarily transferring some of his powers to him, turning Freeman into Captain Marvel Jr., later known as Shazam Jr. We'll get to see a version of Shazam Jr. onscreen according to reports, but don't expect to see Captain Nazi turning up.

From everything we've seen so far, Freeman will already be relying on his crutch when he meets Batson. As part of the same foster family, the two boys will form a bond over the course of the film, and at some stage we're probably going to see Jack Dylan Grazer's character transform into an adult hero (according to ScreenRant, Adam Brody has been cast in the role of Shazam Jr.). The most recent version of Freeman is known as a "fixer" at his school, someone who talks a lot despite not really being able to back it up. We know from his previous roles that Grazer has the gift of the gab, and he's definitely the right shape and size for Freeman.

We've already touched on the role of the Wizard, but we've yet to get a clear look at this vitally important character in the trailers. The Wizard (who passed the name Shazam onto Batson along with his powers) has been kept in the shadows, perhaps to keep the reveal a surprise, or maybe because the visual effects are still being fine-tuned. Because of this it's hard to say how closely Djimon Hounsou's version will match up with the Wizard from the comics, but the early signs are positive — you can just about make out his tatty grey beard; he's carrying the mystic staff that he uses to channel the power of the gods; he has the famous lightning bolt on his chest.

We don't know how involved Hounsou will be, but there's more than enough backstory to extend his screen time beyond the passing-of-the-torch scene we've already seen in trailers. Before he became a powerful wizard, he was a young shepherd named Jebediah. After his parents are murdered, Jebediah pleads to a variety of gods, six of whom decide to grant him powers akin to their own. It is he who is responsible for the birth of Black Adam, a Shazam! anti-hero who will (hopefully) be portrayed by Dwayne Johnson down the line.

Like Grace Fulton, Andi Osho is an actress who is already familiar with the Shazam! director. When she sat down for an interview with Essence, Osho revealed that David F. Sandberg wanted her to be in his big superhero movie as a nod to his critically acclaimed debut. "I was delighted to be offered this role by the director," Osho told the magazine. "We'd worked together before on Lights Out, so he knew I was a safe pair of hands. The cool thing about it is he recently revealed on Twitter that my character is his way of tying his debut, Lights Out, to the DC Universe. The guy's got game."

Osho is taking on the role of Ms. Glover, Billy Batson's care worker. As you can tell from the split image, she really doesn't look anything like the Mrs. Glover from the comics, but in this instance that's probably a good thing. Much like Marvel Studios did with the MCU version of Aunt May, Warner Bros. wanted a younger actress in the role, someone who could believably deal with foster kids as challenging as Billy Batson on a regular basis. Osho admitted that she wasn't familiar with the source material, but she fit the bill nonetheless.

Victor Vasquez doesn't do it alone. He and his wife Rosa are very much a team, fostering (and, in the comics, adopting) several children between them, making them the unsung heroes of this story. After paying Billy Batson a visit at his previous foster home in Philadelphia, the kind couple decide to introduce him to their ever-growing family. It isn't an easy transition for Batson, however — he argues with his new family and decides to run away, at which point he's summoned by the Wizard.

The movie version of Rosa will be played by Marta Milans, who was born in beautiful Madrid but learned her craft in New York City — she reportedly graduated from NYU with a double major in Acting and Art History. Unlike her onscreen husband, Cooper Andrews, Milans resembles the character she's been asked to play pretty closely. From the hairstyle and color to the warm and welcoming smile, she's seemingly a perfect fit for the role.

If you thought Grace Fulton and Ian Chen were dead ringers for Mary Bromfield and Eugene Choi, just look at this split image of Jovan Armand and Pedro Peña, another member of the Shazam Family. When the studio put out its casting call for Pedro (using the code name Carlos to throw fans off), it stated that it was looking for a "Hispanic, overweight," and asthmatic fifteen-year-old, who is "very shy and sweet," ComicBook.com reported. Armand answered the call and won the part, but where have you seen him before?

Armand is probably best-known for playing Troy in The Middle, appearing in several episodes of the long-running show between 2015 and 2017. Shazam! will be on a different level from everything he's ever done and will likely boost his profile considerably. This will benefit his career as an actor, but it could also give him a bigger platform to pursue his music — Armand is a rapper with several music videos already on YouTube. The adult version of Peña (who is granted the strength of Hercules by the Wizard) will be played by D.J. Cotrona, the actor who almost played Superman in the canceled Justice League Mortal movie.

We've already mentioned the motives that drive the movie's villain, Doctor Sivana, and they don't bode well for his wife. Sivana went looking for the Rock of Eternity (the lair of the Wizard) so he could learn more about magic and potentially cure his dying family. He has kids in the comics (the fantastically named Beautica Sivana being the most memorable) but as far as we can tell they won't be appearing in the Shazam! movie. The doc's other half, Venus, will.

Natalia Safran has been cast as the mad scientist's wife, and it's not hard to understand why. The singer and actress has the perfect look for the part, bringing some mysterious beauty to Venus Sivana. Oddly, Safran has already appeared in the DC Extended Universe as another character: Queen Rina in Aquaman. That's right — Safran played the queen of the fisherman kingdom in James Wan's underwater epic, though she was covered in so much makeup and CGI that the studio is banking on nobody taking too much notice of that fact.