6. Doctor Sivana – Shazam! (2019)
It’s not just Marvel movies that occasionally feature an out-of-place character, because DC has done it, too. Interestingly, this villous character is out of place for essentially the same reasons: he’s a serious character in a movie that doesn’t take him seriously. That is, of course, Shazam!‘s Doctor Sivana (Mark Strong).
Maybe it’s a matter of poor casting. Though Mark Strong has proved that he can carry off comedy, he’s simply too intense to pull off the silliness required to fit in with the rest of Shazam!‘s cast. Sivana practically oozes intensity, and Zachary Levi’s superhero movie uses this to make the villain the butt of its jokes.
Though characters seeming out of place sounds bad, Shazam! makes it work in the film’s favor. By lightly ridiculing its own villain, the film acknowledges the overserious antagonist in a way that feels fresh and entertaining. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help Silvana blend in any better, and he still seems like he’d be more at home in a more self-serious movie.