‘Shazam!’: Zachary Levi Breaks Down Billy Batson’s ‘Wisdom of Solomon’

During a set visit last year, Shazam! star Zachary Levi discussed one of Billy Batson’s incredible powers, the Wisdom of Solomon.

The titular hero of Shazam! possesses the Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles, and the Speed of Mercury. One of the strangest superhero powers of 14-year old Billy Batson (Asher Angel), the teenage counterpart to Shazam, is the Wisdom of Solomon. Zachary Levi addressed the idea of Billy Batson having the wisdom of a God during our set visit last April:

“I asked this question with David at the camera test or maybe even right before it, I think. Having done the research on the character and being like, ‘How is this going to work?’ I think, if you’ve read the New 52, it does take a little license with that. In fact I don’t think it’s the only version of Captain Marvel or Shazam that’s taken license with this kind of paradox, right? Essentially what was settled on is the idea that while some of these powers or these namesakes and powers, be it Hercules or Atlas or what have you, are a little bit more evident as Billy is becoming [Shazam.]”

Shazam! won’t be the first time that audiences will be seeing Zachary Levi in a major comic book film. The actor made two appearances in the Marvel Cineamtic Universe as Fandral in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok. Although he played one of the famed Warriors Three, Zachary Levi’s Fandral didn’t have much screen time in the Thor sequels, particularly in Ragnarok which killed the character off rather quickly.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all news regarding Shazam! as soon as more information becomes available. If you could only have one of Billy Batson’s amazing superpowers, which one would you choose? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Directed by David F. Sandberg, Shazam! stars Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer, Grace Fulton, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Cooper Andrews, Marta Milans, and Djimon Honsou.

We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).

Shazam! will be released in theaters on April 5, 2019.