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by Diya Majumdar updated March 23, 2023, 3:10 am

This article contains spoilers for Shazam! Fury of the Gods

The Shazam 2 star, Zachary Levi, has recently found himself on the receiving end of more backlash than was seemingly necessary for his performance on the screen. On the other hand, his relentless invocation of the SnyderVerse and the subsequent debate that he raises by pitting the new DCU against its predecessor has rightfully drawn some ire from the fandom, both new and old. And with time, it doesn’t look like Levi is in the mood to settle the argument anytime soon.

Also read: Fans Call Out Zachary Levi’s Subpar “Stereotypical Kid” Acting in Shazam 2: “Doesn’t even TRY to act anything like Asher Angel’s Billy”

The Shazam! franchise has given us a happy-go-lucky character who, simply put, often goes overboard with the “happy” aspect of his personality. On the first watch, Shazam! was an on-point delivery and was every bit as fun as one would expect the comic book character to be. With time, the disparity between Asher Angel’s Billy Batson and Zachary Levi’s becomes too wide in its representation of the same character to then not be noticed by the fandom.

However, this realization which then leads to a downgrading of Zachary Levi’s character within the DC family has more often than not been blamed on the collective head of the SnyderVerse fandom. In a recent interview with Josh Horowitz, expressing his sadness and dislike of the toxicity of the DC fandom, Levi claimed:

“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.”

Also read: “You’re such an idiot there”: DC Star Zachary Levi’s Painful Experience While Shooting Shazam 2 Might Turn His Haters into Fans

The actor is of course right in pointing out that the DCEU fandom can be overwhelming in their venomous criticism of anything that does not align with Snyder’s original vision. But at the same time, such criticism can mentally and emotionally tear down an actor for playing the part he was cast to portray, and doing it the best way he can while at it. 

The DC franchise hardly has any cause to dislike Zachary Levi’s current argument against the former SnyderVerse. In fact, David Ayer himself has called out the fandom for being toxic in the past. However, Levi has consistently been ranting against the Man of Steel director’s followers for their apparent dislike of his comic book character. The SnyderVerse fandom, on their part, has been coming down hard on every aspect of James Gunn’s new plans for DC and not simply Shazam 2 (which is an extension of the old universe).

Also read: “I’m very ready to move on”: Shazam 2 Director Done With Superhero Movies After WB Deliberately Made Zachary Levi’s $125M Sequel Fail at Box-Office

Incidentally, however, the proportionate mass of the audience who have not turned up for Shazam 2 spreads out evenly over the whole DC fan demography since most of the audience seem unwilling to sit through a 130-minute fun fandango of family-friendly superhero adventure. The SnyderVerse hardly has anything to do with the uptake in animosity against the Shazam! franchise since even they have somewhat acknowledged the promise and the potential that Gunn’s plans hold for the future of this cinematic universe. 

Levi’s character has become unapproachable in itself for its wonky difference in the representation of Billy and Shazam, and a faction of the DC fandom caught on to the fact quite early on to then negate the actor for his performance once the movies came out. 

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now playing in theatres worldwide.

Source:  The Happy, Sad, Confused Podcast

It's 2023 and Diya Majumdar's social life is defined by a 365-day binge-marathon of films and television shows. Having graduated with honors in literature from Miranda House, she now has more than 1000 published articles on Fandomwire, and her passion and profession both include dissecting the world of cinema. She happens to be a liberally opinionated person with an overbearing love for Monet, Edvard Munch, and Van Gogh, and hardly anything fascinates her more than painting exact replicas of all their troubled works – in oil, of course.

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