An original live-action Billy Batson has a cameo in Shazam! Fury of the Gods – and it's a very meta moment. Light spoilers follow for the movie!
Throughout the film, Zachary Levi's Shazam (AKA Billy Batson, played by Asher Angel) ponders his superhero name. At one point, mid-battle with Lucy Liu's Kalypso and her army of mythological creatures, members of the public call out their support for Shazam. One of them calls him Captain Marvel, which might be the name of Brie Larson's Marvel character now, but was the original name of Shazam in the pages of Fawcett Comics.
The actor playing this helpful citizen is none other than Michael Gray, who played Billy Batson in the live-action Shazam! TV show that aired in the '70s (the first actor to play Billy in live-action was Frank Coghlan Jr. in the '41 movie Adventures of Captain Marvel).
"Talk about a great photo," Gray wrote on Twitter, accompanying a picture of him with a suited-up Levi. "Zachary Levi and I. So I am in Shazam Fury Of The Gods, fun cameo. Shazam is my life so I'm so happy I'm in it. It's a fantastic movie and Zachary is fantastic too."
Talk about a great photo. Zachary Levi and I. So I am in Shazam Fury Of The God’s, fun cameo. Shazam is my life so I’m so happy I’m in it. It’s a fantastic movie and Zachary is fantastic too. pic.twitter.com/ZHsE7e9hxfMarch 20, 2023
Gray isn't the only DC character to cameo in the movie, but director David F. Sandberg has revealed that even more actors were supposed to appear in the film. "So there were supposed to be characters from [Black Adam's] Justice Society, but that fell apart three days before we were going to roll cameras," he revealed. Luckily, though, some different actors were able to take their place, but we won't spoil who here.
Shazam 2 is in theaters now. For much more on the movie, check out our spoilery deep dives on:
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods ending explained
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods cameos explained
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods post-credits scenes explained
- When will Shazam! Fury of the Gods be on HBO Max?
- Are Shazam and Black Adam the same?
- How to watch the DC movies in order
- The comic history of the Shazam Family explained
- All the new DC movies and TV shows coming soon
- The lowdown on DCU Chapter One: Gods and Monsters
- The comic history of Shazam and the Justice Society
- Do Shazam and Wonder Woman have a shared history in comics?
- The comic history of the Olympian Gods
- Shazam 2 director explains why the first movie's villain doesn't return
