Shazam! has just received a writer and director, John August is set to write the story of Captain Marvel and we knew Peter Segal is set to direct the comic character to the screen.

Shazam! tells the of Billy Batson, a teenager who becomes the superhero when he utters the very word, Shazam. The word is apparently the acronym for six gods and heroes of the ancient world and gives him their abilities as well. According to the story from The Hollywood Reporter through Coming Soon they are:

...the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Aries, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury.

Great. Sounds amazing. What I can't understand is that with the recently announced murder of Captain America why they aren't thinking of giving him the big screen treatment. Well, actually I do. I would imagine that they are thinking Captain America really wouldn't go down that well in most non-US cinemas, so a character that loads of people haven't heard of and sounds like every run of the mill superhero will do.

Actually, it reminds me of Bananaman...