Before he was part of the DC movies as Shazam, Zachary Levi got pretty close to a couple of MCU characters. He was in the running for Captain America, and Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy. He may have missed out on both, but he still showed up in a Marvel movie, portraying Thor character Fandral in Thor: The Dark World.
Sadly, the star didn’t have the best experience, and he alleges that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige misled the extent of his role. “Feige is like, ‘Hey, would Zach want to take this role again?’” he tells the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “I insisted on talking to Kevin about it, for two reasons. One, I saw the first movie, and I didn’t really feel like the Warriors Three were utilised in that great of a way.”
He continues: “I was like, ‘Is that going to be the case again, because if it is, I don’t really want to do that, you know?’ And he’s like, ‘No, no, no, it’s gonna be a huge part of this movie.’ Not so much, as it turned out.”
The Warriors Three didn’t have a massive part in the Thor sequel, nor have they been used much since. Levi talks about the serendipity around Fandral, because he was initially chosen to play the Asgardian, but commitments to TV series Chuck prevented him for doing it.
Josh Dallas ended up taking up the sword, only to have to give up the character for The Dark World due to fantasy series Once Upon A Time. This led to Levi getting the call, and the rest is history. Maybe there was some intention for Fandral to have a larger presence that got cut down, who knows.
Ultimately, Levi was able to do Shazam, something that he’s thrived at since. Maybe one day he can rejoin the MCU thanks to the Multiverse. Keep an eye on our guide to Marvel’s Phase 5 to see about the likelihood of that, and our new movies list will tell you what else is coming out.