Summary

• Zachary Levi addressed criticisms of Billy's character changes in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, explaining that the shift towards immaturity was intentional to reflect Billy's age and growth.
• The change in Billy's portrayal benefited the movie by aligning with his character development. Embracing his foster family and finding joy allowed for more humorous moments and continued his arc from the first film.
• Levi has expressed his desire for a buddy comedy between Shazam and Green Lantern, suggesting potential future paths to explore Billy's growing maturity while maintaining his lighthearted personality.

With the sequel having garnered more mixed reviews than its predecessor, Zachary Levi is addressing the criticisms of Shazam! Fury of the Gods' Billy character changes. Levi returned for the DC Extended Universe as he and his Shazamily found themselves pitted against the daughters of Atlas, Hespera, Kalypso and Anthea, as they come to Earth in the hopes of acquiring a mystical relic to revive their realm and give them their destructive powers. Despite featuring the return of the core creative team of the 2019 hit, Fury of the Gods proved to be a commercial disappointment for Warner Bros. and scored a Rotten 49% from critics on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes.

While speaking with Screen Rant for his role in the Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Levi opened up about his time in the DCEU with the Shazam! movies. In exploring his approach to the changes to Billy in the sequel, Fury of the Gods, the actor addressed some of the criticisms that the character appeared more "immature", offering a meaningful reason for this depiction in comparison to the more serious personality in the original. Check out what Levi explained below:

From the first movie to the second, I tried to age him as Billy ages, you know, in his actual younger teen form. Inside, he’s aging too. Obviously, in the first film, he was like 15, and in the second he’s 17ish, almost 18. So I tried to address that and bring that into the character, which ironically, in some ways, kind of made him feel almost a little more immature. But that’s because when he’s 15, he’s not trying to be cool guy, when he’s 17, he’s trying to be cool guy, he’s trying to be the leader, and he’s trying to kind of put on that bravado more.

Why Shazam! 2's Change To Billy Benefitted The Movie

Though the overall tone and scattershot plot was the focus of many of the mixed reviews for the sequel, the overall change to Billy's portrayal was highlighted by many in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Gone was the lone wolf-type orphan who pushes away his family and instead, audiences were treated to a goofier version of the character, despite his having grown in age. While his getting older could be seen as an invitation for him to become a more mature figure, the personality seen in the sequel actually makes more sense for his growth.

The end of the first Shazam! paved the way for Billy to start embracing his life as part of the foster family at the heart of both movies rather than push them away, as well as finally having come to with his emotional backstory of having been abandoned by his mother. Given so much of his childhood was devoted to trying to find his mother and recapture the happiness he thought they had when he was little, it would be a more meaningful development for Billy to continue to embrace his newfound joy and become a little more childish in his behavior. Additionally, with his belief of being an indestructible hero, he would believe himself untouchable and carry that confidence between both personas.

This character development for Billy not only invited some of the more humorous Shazam! Fury of the Gods, including its viral Fast & Furious reference, but also leant for a nice continuation of the arc started in the 2019 movie. With the final act also seeing Shazam sacrifice himself to take down Kalypso in favor of letting his family get in harm's way, this growth came full circle as he truly embraced his new family. One can hope that should Levi and his co-stars get a chance at a DCU return, they find a unique new path to explore Billy's growing maturity while still balancing his newfound lighthearted personality.

Levi also shared with Screen Rant his desire to see a buddy comedy with Shazam and Nathan Fillion's Green Lantern in James Gunn's DC Universe.