Zachary Levi’s long dream of playing a super hero was fulfilled when he was roped in for Shazam. Although Levi was briefly seen in ‘Thor’ franchise, the actor recently desired to play ‘Deadpool’. As of now, the Merc with a Mouth is played by Ryan Reynolds.
The Chuck actor’s career boosted when he played Earth’s Mightiest Mortal in DC films. The actor was always a comic book nerd and wanted to play the foul mouthed sarcastic character even before casting was announced and the ‘Free Guy’ star came on board.
In a recent appearance at DragonCon 2021, Zachary Levi admits he feels jealousy towards Ryan Reynolds as he snug the ‘Deadpool’ role that he always dreamt to play, the actor said, “For years I’ve wanted to be ‘Deadpool’. I was so jealous that Ryan… he rocked that… when you see somebody do something that you’ve wanted to do for a long time, and they do it great, you’re like ‘kudos, rock ‘n roll.’”
“Reed Richards would be kind of fun. But to be truthful, I don’t even really allow myself to go down those roads because I’m so good. I’m so set. The fact that I even get to be ‘Captain Marvel’/’Shazam!’/’Billy Batson’, it’s such a fun dream role. And it’s got so much different DNA than almost every other superhero,” Zachary Levi added.
Although he still hopes to see himself playing Reed Richards, the founding member of ‘Fantastic Four’, it’ll be too early to say anything about the future of Mister Fantastic as actors like John Krasinski, Brandon Routh and John David Washington are perhaps the most popular options.
Even Ryan Reynolds had to cross some hurdles before landing onto ‘Deadpool’, as he played Wade Wilson, also known as Mutant Killer, in the 2009 film ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’. The actor was later lauded for playing the titular character in ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Deadpool 2’, most recently his entry into Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was confirmed, that means he’s totally well off with the Marvel Studios.
Meanwhile, Zachary Levi will reprise the superhero role in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’, which began filming in August 2021 and is scheduled for June 2023 release. —Screen Rant