Although not all of them have one, many popular superheroes have great catchphrases that they shout before jumping in to save the day. The Thing says "It's clobberin' time!," the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles say "Cowabunga!" and the Tick shouts "Spoon!" as he charges into battle. For DC's Billy Batson, "Shazam!" isn't just a catchphrase, it is actually part of his powers, turning him into an adult superhero. So naturally it's important to get the saying right. For Asher Angel, who plays Billy Batson in next year's Shazam!, that meant repeating the line over and over again, much to his parent's chagrin, as he explained:
That line. That line I would just practice over and over and over. My mom would tell me 'Stop saying it!' Both of my parents.
Well, I can't say I blame Asher Angle since this is his first major movie and he wants to get it right. Shazam is the name of the hero (formerly Captain Marvel), his magic word and the name of the movie, so the delivery of 'Shazam' has to be on point. Of course, I can see how hearing "Shazam!" for the fiftieth time might get a bit tiresome for his parents, as Asher Angel told Entertainment Weekly. I expect that the charm of hearing their kid say "Shazam" over and over in a bunch of different ways wore off pretty quickly. But hey, I guess that's just the reality of living with a child actor; you have to allow for their process.
We won't know for sure how all that practice paid off until we see the movie, but I imagine we'll be hearing the magic word plenty in Shazam! We already got two different deliveries in the trailer. The first comes when Billy meets the Wizard and says 'Shazam' in a quizzical and humorous manner. The second is towards the end of the trailer when Billy Batson is in some sort of Christmas market and looks like he is about to head into battle. There he delivers it with authority, so clearly Asher Angel worked on all the vocal permutations of the phrase, much to mom and dad's delight.
What's kind of funny about this is that walking around the house saying a character catchphrase is something kids do anyways. Countless kids have probably walked around their parent's houses, perhaps in a Halloween costume or holding an action figure, saying "Hulk smash," "I have the power" and "Thundercats Ho!'". Only in this instance, the kid is a little older and he just happens to be actually bringing one of those characters to life on the big screen. So it's not childish, it's work.
Shazam! hits theaters on April 5, 2019. Check out our guide for all the latest news from the DCEU, and take a look at our release schedule for the biggest movies still to come this year.
