‘Shazam’ Sneak Peek Riffs on ‘Big’ and Delivers the Superman We Want

Drew Dietsch
Movies DC
Movies DC

Shazam! is starting to feel like the Superman movie we need. The DC hero is getting the big screen treatment and everything we’ve seen so far looks like an utter joy. Warner Bros. brought a behind the scenes look at the film and it warmed our hearts and made us so excited for this flick.

Here’s what we saw.

If a Kid Was Superman

shazam comic
Shazam! as depicted in the comics.

Director David F. Sandberg summed it up perfectly in a clip where he said, “Every kid wants to be Superman. [Billy Batson] gets to become Superman but he’s still a kid.” Billy uses the magical power of Shazam to transform from a kid into an adult who has the strength, speed, and invulnerability of Superman. But what’s great is to see Zachary Levi fully embrace the childish nature of the character.

“He’s a kid so he’d be YouTubing himself,” Levi said. And we see Shazam doing that as he poses for pictures and gets other kids — possibly his friends? — to record him outside of a convenience store. It felt completely true to the character if he appeared in the modern day.

But, the most charming segment came with Levi recreating the famous piano scene from Big (see above). He starts pressing the keys with his feet but then says, “I forget the rest of the song!” It’s not clear if this will be in the finished film but it was such a tender, silly, and heartwarming moment that totally sold the idea of the film and the character.

Super Stuff

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Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong) and Shazam (Zachary Levi) duke it out.

We caught a few quick glimpses of some more typical superhero fare, such as Shazam in battle with his enemy Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong). Seeing as how Sivana isn’t normally depicted as having super strength, it’ll be interesting to see how he’s able to match up against Shazam.

Another new tidbit had to do with Billy’s costume. The yellow lightning bolt that serves as the insignia on his chest actually lights up. There were multiple shots where you could see that practical lighting was part of the costume. It created a vibrant and warm look to the costume. For those who have been mocking the muscle suit look of this outfit, we can say that it looks great in motion and on camera.

That was all we really got but it was enough to sell us on this brighter turn for the DC Extended Universe. Zachary Levi was bursting with childish glee both in front of and behind the camera, and it’s clear that DC is starting to learn what kind of movies fans want to see. If Shazam! is as cheery and fun as this sneak peek, the classic superhero might actually end up being the Superman we’ve all been wanting in the DC Extended Universe.

Shazam! opens on April 5 in the US and UK.

Drew Dietsch
Drew Dietsch has been professionally writing about entertainment for over a decade. His bylines include FANDOM - where he was a founding contributor and Entertainment Editor - Bloody Disgusting, SYFY WIRE, and more. He created and hosts GenreVision, a weekly film discussion show at genrevision.com.