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zachary-levi-shazam.jpg

In Theory, Zachary Levi Defended Brie Larson from Online A-Holes

By Mike Redmond | Film | February 25, 2019 |

By Mike Redmond | Film | February 25, 2019 |


zachary-levi-shazam.jpg

As the Tiny-Nubbined Manbaby War on Captain Marvel escalated into the inevitable Rotten Tomatoes review bombing because again, these sad sacks couldn’t come up with an original idea if it ended with them touching an anime on the boob parts, Zachary Levi entered the fray by basically telling any online sh*t-stirrers who try to pit Shazam against Captain Marvel to piss off.

Here’s the thing though: Zachary Levi has a history of missing the whole point. He absolutely means well, but he misses it by *that* much. Okay, maybe a little bit more than that, but I’m trying to be nice, and please feel free to light me up in the comments if I should not be doing that.

On the one hand, it is a very good thing that he addressed the review bombing horseshit and made it very clear that nobody involved with Shazam — from Levi himself all the way up to Warner Bros. studio — wants anything to do with angry online nerds using their movie as a club to beat Brie Larson with. And that’s a very bold move for a DC Comics movie to take because, even with the success of Aquaman, their film franchise is nowhere near solid ground and poking the hornet’s nest of its notoriously toxic fanbase is never a picnic. So from that perspective, good on Levi for speaking up and essentially highlighting that these angry nerd campaigns are sad pains in the asses that the creators they worship want nothing to do with.

On the other hand, when it gets to the part of the video where Levi should start pointing out the misogyny being hurled at Larson, or at the very least, the accusations that “she’s racist against white men,” he instead starts harping about the barely a blip-on-the-radar controversy over the Captain Marvel name? Without making everyone cross-eyed, Shazam used to be called Captain Marvel, but then through some shenanigans, Marvel was also able to use the name Captain Marvel, and for decades it was a thing. Eventually, it got to the point where DC Comics said, “Whatever, f*ck it. Everyone calls our dude Shazam anyway,” and it’s been settled ever since

Long story short, the name issue is barely an ant fart compared to the ocean of bullshit surrounding Captain Marvel, yet oddly, that’s the issue Levi decided to take a stand on. Which didn’t help with the less generous read of who this video really helps the most. Captain Marvel is clearly going to be just fine. Shazam, however, could use all of the help it can get. Like, for example, the kind of publicity one gets from playing the big strapping man protecting the poor, defenseless woman while conveniently side-stepping an avalanche of violent sexism.

Was that Levi’s intent? Probably not. Did it come off that way because he missed the whole damn point? Welp…



Header Image Source: Warner Bros./Youtube