I didn't know much about Shazam.
Growing up, Shazam wasn't really one of the superheroes that I knew.
The whole movie is taking from all over the very rich history of Shazam.
[Peter Safran] Shazam has had a lot
of different characteristics over the years.
He's been around a long time. He's been incredibly popular.
[Geoff Johns] Shazam. ..
...was introduced as the original Captain Marvel back in the '40s
and he was this orphan kid, Billy Batson,
and this ancient wizard bestowed upon him
the magical powers to turn into a superhero.
[Billy speaking]
[Johns] And the cool thing was the extension of his power
into these surrogate brothers and sisters.
[all] Shazam!
[Johns] And it became a family of superheroes.
Because these characters had a magic to them, they had a tone to them
that very few characters have,
that was the reason, I think, why these comics rivaled
the sales of even Superman in their heyday.
The history of Shazam is long.
The comic books were published in the '40s and '50s
and a little bit in the '70s.
There was a comic book called Power of Shazam!
by Jerry Ordway in the '90s.
And he's had black and white serials.
Shazam!
[Johns] He's had TV shows
where he's driving around in a Winnebago in the '70s.
He had a cartoon series.
And then I reintroduced the character with artist Gary Frank,
and we did a new take on Shazam which is a lot of what inspired the movie.
Shazam survived decade after decade after decade
because the character inherently has something special inside him.
[Levi] Unlike a lot of other characters,
like Superman who is an alien from another planet,
Shazam is, he's magic.
I'm magic.
[whooping]
The mysteries of magic and the unpredictable nature of it
is great, especially in the hands of a kid.
One of the unique aspects is that his power comes from magic, you know,
he's not like Superman, who is an alien,
or Wonder Woman, who's this Amazonian, like, it's magic.
[Safran] His archnemesis Dr. Sivana is legendary.
Going way, way, way back.
[Sandberg] Dr. Sivana has been around since the '40s.
In a way, he's like Shazam's Lex Luthor,
but Sivana came before Lex Luthor.
He's like the original, kind of, bad guy like that.
[Mark Strong] He has a middle name, you know.
-Bodog. Did you know that? -[interviewer laughing]
[Dr. Sivana laughing]
[Strong] The original Sivana was in comic book #2 of Captain Marvel.
But I then discovered there was never a #1.
So, Sivana was there at the very beginning.
In that incarnation he was a thwarted scientist
who was aggrieved that the world didn't appreciate him.
But the Sivana that I play is based on Geoff Johns’ New 52 incarnation,
which is the much more frightening, muscular one.
[Sandberg] Since Shazam and Sivana both possess magic,
the only thing that can hurt them is each other.
You can only fight magic with magic.
You follow the comics, the powers keep manifesting.
So, it's almost like, kind of, limitless,
but baseline, the name Shazam actually is an acronym.
S-H-A-Z-A-M, which stands for Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus,
Achilles and Mercury.
The wisdom of Solomon,
the strength of Hercules,
the endurance of Atlas,
the power of Zeus,
the fighting abilities of Achilles
and the speed of Mercury.
Which isjust all me, really.
ljust... It's amazing that I finally found a role
that all of me can fit into.
naughs]
So, those manifest in different ways.
So, for example, you know, super-speed, super-strength,
and, you know, fighting abilities,
flight, as it turns out.
Yes.
The ability to kind of wield lightning as well, I think,
which is very much in tune with his Zeusitude,
if I can be so bold as to call it Zeusitude.
And I am coining that phrase right now.
And then also a super-suit, that's part of my super-abilities,
‘cause it is magic, the suit is magic.
It magically appears on and then it magically comes off of me,
which is convenient when I need to go to the bathroom.
[toilet flushes]
[Johns] Everyone has their iconic superhero costume
and Shazam's is no exception.
It's this great red costume with gold boots
and this lightning bolt on his chest
and this white cape.
The fun thing is that Billy doesn't get to choose his costume.
It's just on him, and he can't remove it.
You know, that's what it is.
And so, he didn't design it and the other members
of the Shazam family didn't design theirs either.
But they suit their personalities.
Shazam is, honestly, like one of very few superhero characters
that is genuinely stoked to be a superhero.
[laughing] I can fly!
More often than not, you've got a character who
is begrudgingly pulled in to this thing
and, you know, and they have these powers,
and everybody needs them and they're like... Oh!
"l have to save the world again," you know.
Billy Batson is stoked. He's so excited.
Oh, hey. What's up? I'm a superhero.
We're staying true to the tone of the character.
He's always been a little bit lighter, a little bit more fun
and a little bit more family-centric than any other DC superhero out there.
Ah! [laughing]
[Levi] Baked into the DNA of it is the humor and the heart
that a lot of other superheroes have to manufacture oftentimes
because it wasn 't just built in to it when the comic was created,
or when the character was created.
Then Billy just stepping into this world and you get to see that heart,
and ljust love it, man.
All right, We did it!