Zachary Levi talks Heroes Reborn, nerd culture, his place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and more!
Heroes Reborn, the NBC reboot of their previous series, has been shrouded in a bit of mystery.
A sizzle reel at the Television Critics Association panel showed new cast member Zachary Levi as a villain.
Well learn Rebornwhen it premieres September 24 at 8PM on NBC.
Zachary Levi: I dont know.
I think that everyones trying to do their thing and I dont blame anybody for doing their thing.
My thing, Ive always tried to do, is something original.
I think there are two things we can do in the world.
Either bring something thats brand new that needs to be brought or make better something thats already existing.
If youre not doing either one of those things than I dont really see the point in doing it.
Just take care of people.
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HQ was about how do we do good as a business at Nerd Machine?
To me, the best way to do business is we take care of people.
You give them something that theyre not getting somewhere else.
Then I just sat with that and I was like, Well, what dont people have?
What can we give them?
What can we bring them?
There were brands that existed before us.
There are brands that popped up after us.
Therell be more brands and more brands.
I think theres enough room for everybody as long as everybodys respectful and everybody is doing excellent stuff.
Do you coverHeroes Rebornon Nerd Machine or do you have to recuse yourself?
No, weve definitely covered it.
Im never the one whos covering it.
Early on, we decided the way we wanted to do all of our editorial was all fan generated.
Theres so much talent and thoughtfulness in the public and a lot of peoples voices just never get heard.
So we thought, Why are we trying to write our opinions?
Let them do it.
So yeah, go ahead, write whatever you want aboutHeroes.
Freedom of speech, baby.
Were you very aware ofHeroesin its first run as a fan yourself?
We premiered a year after they did and we were on the same night with them for three years.
My schedule wasnt very conducive to television watching.
Are you also very picky about what a superhero show can be?
As far as the premise is concerned, no.
Theres only really two prerequisites to that.
And two, they have to be super.
you’re free to have a hero show.
Superheroes is something that comes straight out of creativity and fiction, comic books really.
You kind of start with Superman and you work your way down.
But theres all kinds of ways you’re free to slice that.
I think in some ways the smaller the powers, the more interesting.
Definitely otherworldly, definitely not natural.
I dont know what it is.
I cant even think of an example.
You never thought about what the power would be?
Say his only ability is he can drive a car without looking.
That seems like, so what?
But thats exactly whats so intriguing about it.
But when hes driving a car, without fail, Im driving, youre sitting shotgun and were talking.
Youre freaking out because Im not looking at the road but Im driving perfectly.
How am I doing this?
Im eating and Im drinking.
This guys whole life, maybe he never leaves his car.
Its the one place where he feels like a superhero.
How weird, and maybe he uses that somehow.
Again, youd have to make a hero out of him.
I dont know how you make a hero out of him.
Thats the creative challenge: Where would this power be useful?
Exactly, 100%.
So I think that stuff is very intriguing.
What doesHeroes Rebornhave to be in a post Marvel Cinematic Universe world?
Somebody who might not have been into comic books all of a sudden lovesAvengers.
Maybe they love it because they love Robert Downey, Jr. so they started watchingIron Man.
Oh my God, this is great.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Shouldnt we just be happy that somebody else likes what you like?
I was such a spazzy theater kid.
I hope you do.
Oh no, no, I was tangenting a little bit.
I think the bar should always be raised.
I think everyone should always be shooting for excellence.
If that raises peoples expectations of what great should be, then great.
We should be making great anyway.
Hopefully it didnt lower peoples expectations.
Thats what you dont want.
Hopefully people will see it for what it is.
This was a massive $300 million tentpole feature film thats going to last about two hours.
Are you going to be inThor 3?
I have no idea.
They have not told me anything.
I think thatd be pretty fun to get the gang back together, the Warriors Three.
But theres a reason why the movies calledThorand notThe Warriors Three.
Theyve got to do whats right forThor.
Jaimie is on an NBC show too so we dont know if shes available.
I think theyre shooting for next summer so it really just depends on when in the summer.
So theyve got to shoot it next Summer.
So playing Fandral doesnt preclude playing a different character?
Chris Evans was The Human Torch and Captain America.
Ray Stevenson was The Punisher and Volstagg.
I did point out to him, In fairness, neitherFantastic FournorThe Punisherwas actually a Marvel movie.
You were a part of it but they were produced by other studios.
But he said, Look, I totally understand that but dont worry about it.
