‘Shazam!’ Director Uses ‘Justice League’ Action Figures To Explain His Vision

David F. Sandberg is mostly known for the horror films he directed that include Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation. Now, Sandberg has the opportunity to play in the sandbox of the DC Extended Universe in bringing the first official live-action film adaptation of Shazam! to life with Asher Angel and Zachary Levi as Billy Batson and Shazam respectively. Sandberg seems to be having a great time both from the film’s principal photography and even in using action figures from Justice League to convey his vision.

On his official Instagram, Sandberg shared a photo in which he tells his followers that he is photographing himself playing around with Justice League action figures in order to explain what he is going for. For those hoping that this signifies that certain Justice League members will appear in the film, Sandberg mentions that that’s not the case, even citing that The Flash is representing Billy Batson.

You can check out Sandberg’s official post down below:

Shazam! is shaping up to be the most kid-friendly superhero film in the DCEU thus far. Although the series has had its share of passionate fans, some critics and audiences did not gravitate to Zack Snyder’s tone from Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Despite of this, it seems like DC is taking an exciting new direction focusing on the standalone stories after the underwhelming box office performance of Justice League.

But even after that, hopefully all of these upcoming films succeed both critically and financially like Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman. That way, maybe we will see Shazam join the Justice League.

Here is the synopsis for Shazam!:

“We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).”

Directed by David F. Sandberg, the film stars Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Honsou, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Faithe Herman, Cooper Andrews and Marta Millan.

Shazam! zaps into theaters on April 5, 2019.