‘Shazam!’ Star Is All For This Secret ‘Justice League’ Connection

DC’s latest flick “Shazam!” works so well in its movie universe there may even be connections that go unnoticed the first viewing.

In the new film, actor Asher Angel plays 14-year-old Billy Batson, an orphan who randomly gets gifted powers that turn him into superhero Shazam (Zachary Levi) whenever he wants. He acts like any kid would if they were given superpowers. He and his friend Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) geek out while testing his newfound abilities. As the superhero, he performs magic on the street for money and, in addition to fighting evil, just generally goofs around.

Freddy also makes viral videos of Billy/Shazam using his powers, which is theorized to be a connection to “Justice League.” That 2017 movie opens with young kids filming Superman and asking him questions. As a superhero fanboy who loves filming things, Freddy could easily have been one of the kids behind the camera.

Levi has said “Shazam!” is for the kid in all of us, so we thought what better way to talk about it than with kid Shazam himself? Angel recently hopped on the phone with HuffPost to discuss some of the movie’s unanswered questions, the internet conspiracy about a fake ’90s movie called “Shazaam” and whether Freddy or Billy could have been asking those questions to Superman.

You’ve been in the Disney show “Andi Mack” and have thus taken part in Disney promos. What was it like to make the Mickey ears?

Yeah, I mean it’s crazy to also be a part of that family. All these things are happening for me… I’m only 16, and hopefully it lasts, and hopefully I get to keep going. That was surreal. For me, that was pretty cool.

I mean, yeah, it’s cool. I knew that was going to be the first thing I asked.

In the movie when Billy turns into Shazam, he realizes he has adult hands and says they’re stupid. What makes adult hands so stupid?

I guess they’re just big, and it’s better to have kid hands because you can do more things with them, I guess? I don’t know. I would think kid hands are better than adult hands for sure, so I definitely know where Zach’s coming from by saying that. You have little hands your whole life and out of nowhere you wake up and have big hands, that kind of freaks you out.

Stupid adult hands was my favorite line. What was yours?

If it was one of my lines, it’d probably be the one at the Rock of Eternity where he’s like “touch my staff,” and I’m like, “No, gross.”

What about the scene you’re proudest of?

The [moment when Billy finds his mom], because that’s the iconic scene where I was like, “There’s no way they could cut that scene.” I’m so happy to see it in the movie. There were other scenes I was proud of, but this was the scene for me.

Do you have the Shazam music app?

I do have the Shazam app on my phone.

What’s the last thing you Shazamed?

I think it was a song by J. Cole. I don’t remember the name … but when the trailer came out and you heard Eminem on it, it was kind of funny because I guess Shazam the app thought that Eminem was talking about them at first, so that was kind of funny to see it go down on Twitter.

Yeah, so that was kind of funny. They’re like, “Oh, wait. We thought you were talking about us. Oh well, this movie looks great.”

There’s a conspiracy theory online that there was a movie called “Shazaam” in the ’90s that starred Sinbad as a genie. There’s not. It’s actually called “Kazaam” and stars Shaq. Did you know about that? 

I have heard about that. I remember when I first booked the role, people would come up to me and say, “Oh my god! I can’t wait to see you in the new ‘Shazam’ movie with Sinbad and Shaq,” but that’s funny. Yeah, I totally thought that at first too. I was like, “Oh wait, is this for ‘Kazaam’? They like changed the whole thing?” But it was so stupid and so weird.

How much money would Shazam make a day performing on the street?

Oh man, I mean, woo, that’d be a lot of money. Definitely. He could survive. I’m gonna guess, wow … a big amount… I’m sure he’d be financially stable from one day of work, I’m sure.

Have you heard the theory that Billy or Freddy were the kids filming Superman in the beginning of “Justice League”? 

Oh, I think that’s pretty cool. I totally forgot that in “Justice League” that happened. Wow, I need to watch that again! I don’t know what to think.

Right? I saw the movie and was like, it totally fits with Freddy to have been there filming Superman.

I love that. I really like that actually. That kind of ties in in a way. I don’t know. How did I never think of that? Thank you for telling me that. Wow.

Maybe you can confirm that one day with Henry Cavill. By the way, was that him at the end of the movie? 

I wish I could say. I don’t think I can say. Who knows? To be honest, I wasn’t there that day, so I actually don’t even know, surprisingly.

Well, have you had a chance to hang out with those other DC superheroes?

I hung out with Jason Momoa at Comic-Con for a little. We hung out with Gal as well, and hopefully we hang out with other guys more. Heck yeah, please. Let’s make that happen.

“Shazam” is in theaters now.