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Shazam!'s Zachary Levi feels that Thor's buddies weren't given their proper due in the MCU
In Thor: Ragnarok, the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) lost three of his best friends — as the Warriors Three were quickly dispatched by Hela — but hardly anyone batted an eye.
Of course, we must remember that Thor was stranded on Sakaar and wasn't aware of what had transpired — at least not until later. That being said, the passing of Fandral (Zachary Levi), Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), and Volstagg (Ray Stevenson) was largely forgotten by the time we got to Avengers: Infinity War. Oh, and the whereabouts of Sif (Jaimie Alexander) are still technically unknown.
This didn't sit right with Levi, who makes his DCEU debut this April in David F. Sandberg's Shazam!. While speaking with Empire Magazine, he talked about how Thor's fighting buddies were woefully underutilized in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“I just don’t think those characters were quite utilised to the best of their abilities,” said Levi, who replaced Josh Dallas as Fandral for The Dark World and Ragnarok. “Thor and the Warriors Three could have been a really cool little trilogy of team movies, and we didn’t really have that much impact. Particularly not in Ragnarok – I mean, I didn’t even have a line.”
Luckily, Warner Bros. was there to catch the actor, who won't be playing second banana anymore come April. During an appearance at San Diego Comic Con last summer, Levi revealed he was happy Marvel passed over him for the role of Star-Lord, which went to Chris Pratt.
"As I researched more and more of Shazam!, and Billy Batson, and this world ... [I realized that] this was the role I was always, hopefully, supposed to play ... because I'm just a big f***in' kid," he said.
Shazam! opens in theaters April 5. Thor will return in Avengers: Endgame, which opens April 26.
