Zachary Levi Talks About AI Like He’s an Unsubtle Mob Boss

Black Adam is one of Shazam’s (formerly known as Captain Marvel) greatest villains. Dr. Sivana, of course, has had his run-ins with the Big Red Cheese. Mr. Mind is one of those classic, silly bad guys. But it is Teth Adam, with powers similar to Billy Batson, who is the most menacing. When those two throw down, it’s a big deal. So, when Dwayne Johnson basically said, “I don’t know her” to the idea of locking up with Zachary Levi’s take on Shazam, well, that’d mess anybody up.

There is likely evidence out there that Levi has always been… off, but the fact that the man once known as The Rock tried to shift the power in the DCU and went out of his way to include Henry Cavill instead of Zachary Levi had to sting. Levi’s next Shazam movie was coming out five months later! It would have been a perfect time to drum up some interest! Instead, ‘ol Dwayne decided to go in a completely different direction, and Levi ended up crying on his Instagram stories because Shazam 2 tanked.

Things certainly haven’t gotten better since then, either. The Chuck actor went on to star in an insanely misguided adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon, where he plays the titular character (Harold, not the crayon, though I understand your confusion) who, in the book, is, like, five years old max. Then, Levi took a hard pivot into right-wing nonsense (because of course he did) by stumping for RFK Jr. and then announced he would be opening an anti-woke studio that, as of this writing, has yet to open its eyes.

That could be because Levi is too busy asking questions about generative AI. Because that’s all he’s doing, guys! He doesn’t think it’s good or bad or right or wrong, but that someday it is going to be better than every movie studio, so, are you paying attention?! I’m barely exaggerating the summation of his recent rant on Twitter (via Deadline), where he shared a bland-looking AI clip from some stupid account that claimed they made a 200 million dollar movie in one day (of which they conveniently only shared three minutes).

The video in question shows a woman in tall red high-heeled boots running away from some otherworldly attack in a generic big city that’s supposed to be NYC. She eventually ends up in a strange room talking to Kash Patel, who then gets her on the phone with our current President. Oh, and she also drives a Cybertruck. It’s assinine, and, honestly, does the exact opposite of Levi’s thinly-veiled warnings. Whether the uncanny valley issue gets fixed or not, all the people with bad creative impulses use AI, and those who have a better handle and understanding of the craft of filmmaking do things themselves.

So, if anything, I’d like to say something right now: you’re right, Zach. We should be taking this very seriously. In fact, why not make that new studio of yours completely AI-driven? Be a pioneer, Zach! Do what everyone else is afraid to do. Be your own Harold, and let Seedance 2.0 (lol) be your purple crayon. If something as risky as The Rock trying to take over the DCU can work, maybe this will work for you (please, no one tell him that the Rock’s attempted coup didn’t work).