Mark Strong looks to take on his second DC Universe villain role. His straight-faced depiction of Sinestro was one of the few high points of 2011’s largely reviled ‘Green Lantern‘. Now word has it that he is in talks to join ‘Shazam!’ to be directed by David F. Sandberg, with Zachary Levi signed on to star as the titular hero. Strong will play the film’s main villain, Doctor Thaddeus Sivana.
Doctor Sivana has been around just as long as an enemy, having first appeared in 1940’s ‘Whiz Comics’ #2. This bald mad scientist actually predates Lex Luthor slightly, by a month, but in his earliest appearances, Luthor was shown as having hair. Of course, Sivana, like many ‘Shazam!’ characters was drawn in an exaggerated cartoonish style. He was extremely short with a slightly misshapen head, protruding teeth, and goblin-like ears. His eyes are never shown behind his opaque glasses. More recent renderings have established him as being more… well, normal in appearance.
Initially, Doctor Sivana was a benevolent man who wanted to use his genius for good, but bureaucracy stood in his way until he moved to Venus and turned evil and vowed to defeat his enemy Captain Marvel (as Shazam! was originally known) and his Marvel Family. Sivana, being a genius and all, was actually one of the few villains to deduce his opponent’s alter ego– teenage reporter Billy Batson.
Strong was most recently seen in ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’. (He also appeared in the first film, ‘The Secret Service’). He will be starring on FOX’s ambitious new spy thriller ‘Deep State’ which launches next year.
Obviously, Strong’s depiction will borrow from more modern comics. Most recently, he was shown as a disgruntled scientist desperate to save his family. When science fails him, he turns to magic, gaining the power to “see magic.”
What do you think of Strong portraying Doctor Sivana in ‘Shazam!’?
‘Shazam!’ strikes theaters on April 5, 2019.
Source: The Wrap
