Djimon Hounsou Has “Shazam,” “Aquaman” Roles

Djimon Hounsou will be playing not one, but two characters in the DC Extended Universe soon, with small but notable roles in Aquaman and Shazam.

The Beninese-American actor has several notable roles to his name, including Best Supporting Actor nominations for 2003’s In America and 2006’s Blood Diamond. He also played Korath the Pursuer in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, a part which he will reprise in next March’s Captain Marvel.

But it seems that he doesn’t want to limit himself to just one superhero franchise. It was recently announced that he will be playing the Wizard in April 2019’s Shazam. Now, with Entertainment Weekly releasing some of the first images of this December’s Aquaman, we learn that he is also playing the Fisherman King, which is admittedly hard to notice with the green skin and all.

Shazam tells the story of Billy Batson, a teenage boy played by Asher Angel. In the film, he is chosen as the champion of Hounsou’s character, an ancient and powerful wizard. When Billy yells “Shazam!,” he transforms into an adult superhero, played by Zachary Levi and gifted with abilities on par with Superman.

Previously it had been reported Ron Cephas Jones (This is Us, Luke Cage) was playing the Wizard, but he apparently had to bow out due to a scheduling conflict, with news of the change only recently coming out. Either way, it is an interesting choice because, in the comics, the Wizard is traditionally drawn looking Caucasian, until 2011’s reboot made him an Australian Aborigine.

Meanwhile, Hounsou’s Aquaman part is the ruler of one of Atlantis’ seven kingdoms. According to producer Peter Safran, his particular realm is “primarily artistic and cerebral, with poets and philosophers;” nevertheless, he is dressed in armor, and the main villain, Orm (Patrick Wilson), will try to convince him into joining his crusade against the surface world. His wife and daughter will be played by Natalia Safran and Sophie Forrest, respectively.

Hounsou is not the only DCEU actor who is playing multiple characters: Samantha Jo has played the Kryptonian Car-Vex and the Amazon Euboea, Robin Atkin Downes played a criminal while also voicing Doomsday, and even Wilson has previously voiced the unnamed American president before becoming the ruler of a different, underwater nation.