star Zachary Levi says there is actually another comic from which he drew a lot of inspiration.
Levi, who notes that the world of the movie is different from both the traditional "Captain Marve" stories as well as the latter-day "Shazam" era, described the impact that different comics had on his performance during a visit to the set of Shazam! last year.
"As soon as I got the job, Geoff Johns sent me a whole bunch of stuff and some other stuff recommended stuff. I wanted to read those to just kind of familiarize myself but also see if there were little nuggets or little things," Levi told reporters. "But the truth is, The New 52 is really not canon for this, because this is even different than what the new 52 is."
Along the way, besides Johns's work, Levi said that he did find other comics featuring Shazam that he either read for the first time, or re-read, and enjoyed. He singled out one particular story -- Kingdom Come by Alex Ross and Mark Waid -- which he said informed his performance even more than Johns's run.
"I did quite like Kingdom Come," he said. "Even though that's a completely different situation, it shows Captain Marvel's innocence. He's an adult, and he still has that heart. And I thought, 'Oh that's such a cool thing to be able to take that in.' And it's ultimately a sacrificial move at the end and all of that I just found that was more inspiration for me than even The New 52 in a lot of ways."
Having tangible stories to tie to his performance helped Levi deal operate within the heightened reality of a superhero film.
