Zachary Levi, the star of Shazam! Fury of the Gods is hitting back at criticism Internet DC fans aim at him amid his film’s foundering box office. The haranguing of Levi pre-dates the sequel’s release but centered more around his views on Pfizer, Jordan Peterson, and a perceived roast of Britney Spears. Still, he’s making the issue taste in comic book movies.
“There’s a whole contingent of comic book fans that it’s really unfortunate that there’s this one particular group of people that think I… well, they don’t like me because I don’t agree with them on other comic book movies. You know who I’m talking about,” he said as a guest on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
It’s felt that Levi is taking shots at Snyderverse/DCEU fans, specifically those who’ve been known to be very passionate about their favored continuity. When James Gunn and Shazam producer Peter Safran took over DC Studios, Levi was one of the first to pump the breaks and encourage others to “give them a chance” — despite the fact their vision could end his run in tights.
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“But instead of there being a conversation, they take up so many of my words, or things completely out of context, and then they go stir up all the other people that they know online, and they all just want to attack, and attack, and attack, and attack,” Levi persisted, adding they’re “negative to be negative,” and “get off on it.”
He continued, “And it’s really sad because this is just one example of so many examples of the amount of just venom, and toxicity, and bullying that goes on in these cyber dimensions.”
In trying to understand where the hate comes from, Levi guesses it arises from a place of powerlessness, and fans don’t hold much sway with decision-makers, as we’ve seen.
His co-star Rachel Zegler expressed a similar ethos regarding bad reviews and what’s come to be labeled “toxic fandom,” saying they like to “hate on fun nowadays.” They ignore the fact there are positive reviews and Fury of the Gods holds an 87 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes which, for example, is more than Cocaine Bear (71 percent).