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New Line/Warners cast their Billy Batson in the Shazam! movie… UPDATED

November 6th, 2017 by Marc Comments

So last night we reported that it looked possible that Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp, who plays Will Byers, could well be in line to play Billy Batson in the Shazam! movie for New Line and Warner Bros and boy were we… wrong.

Yeah, we were off the mark – wishful thinking, perhaps?

Anyway, it looks like Disney star Asher Dov Angel (picture at bottom of page), a star of Disney Channel show Andi Mack, has nabbed the role of the young boy who becomes an all powerful superhero, played by Chuck star Zachary Levi, when he utters the world ‘Shazam!’.

So that’s all the principals cast – Mark Strong is currently in talks to play the villainous Doctor Sivana – we expect to hear plenty of news and updates now as production picks up pace.

Director David F Sandberg announced the casting on his Instagram earlier today:

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I was hoping to break the news about @asherdovangel last week with this photo but had to wait a bit 🙂

A post shared by David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) on

The DC Entertainment superhero story centers on a boy named Billy Batson who can transform into an adult superhero by uttering the magic word “Shazam!” The name is an acronym of the ancient world gods and historical figures Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury, from which Batson derives his heroic attributes when in adult form. Levi is starring as Batson’s alter ego, the adult hero known as Captain Marvel.

David F. Sandberg (Annabelle: Creation) is directing Shazam! from a screenplay by Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke and also stars Zachary Levi as Shazam! with Grace Fulton in an undisclosed lead. Mark Strong is looking likely to be the villain of the piece..

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UPDATE: Check out this very cool and adorable image of Shazam! and Billy together:

Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….