Zachary Levi was cast last month as Shazam, but as Batson, Angel is arguably the true lead of the movie. Angel is best known for playing Jonah Beck, the love interest for the title character on the Disney Channel show Andi Mack. On Instagram, he simply said he felt “blessed and beyond excited” to play the role.
Director David F. Sandberg meanwhile, shared a photo of Levi holding a photo of Angel, adding he “was hoping to break the news about @asherdovangel last week with this photo but had to wait a bit.”
The casting news comes on the heels of Thursday’s two announcements, namely that Mark Strong and Grace Fulton were in negotiations. Strong, who played Sinestro in Green Lantern, was in talks to play the lead villain, Doctor Sivana, while Fulton, who was in Sandberg’s last film Annabelle: Creation, was being considered for a friend of Billy.
Shazam! will be released on April 5, 2019.
