The Marvel-DC divide has raged among fans for quite some time now; however, it wasn’t until film studios announced that Captain Marvel and Shazam! would debut in theaters within a month of one another that the trolls really got going.
The Brie Larson-led Captain Marvel film is no stranger to bitter haters dissing the fierce heroine. But, as Carol Danvers continues to prove with stellar box office ratings and reviews, you can’t keep a good fighter down.
Once more, Shazam! hero Zachary Levi is here to defend the MCU film amid some critics saying they will only support Shazam! and not Captain Marvel. But guess what? You can be a fan of both films; they are not mutually exclusive. There’s plenty of room to enjoy both films, regardless of whether you rep Marvel or DC.
Levi shared his thoughts during a recent interview with the Associated Press.
“It came to my attention, what was going on, because I was on Twitter or something,” Levi says. “And I was getting added by people that were saying what was very clearly fictitious, defaming things about Brie and about Captain Marvel. I’m not affiliated with anything; I’ve known Brie over the years and I think she’s delightful and talented. By the way, she doesn’t need anybody sticking up for her. I was trying to talk to people who thought they were doing me a favor. They were like ‘We’re not gonna see that, we’re gonna see Shazam!.’ You can just say you want to see Shazam!. You don’t have to go and speak ill of someone else in order to raise me or this movie up.”
You see? Movies are a safe space where we have the freedom to watch — and enjoy — whatever we want to watch.
While the character Shazam was initially called Captain Marvel years before Carol Danvers was on the scene, Levi wants fans to know that there’s no ill will between his upcoming flick and Captain Marvel.
ICYMI: In the original comics, the DC hero (now known as Shazam) was called “Captain Marvel,” while Danvers went by “Ms. Marvel” in the Marvel realm — until a legal battle settled the copyright dispute. Hence the name change.
Captain Marvel is in theaters now, and Shazam! will follow suit on April 5.
Photo: Steve Wilkie/Warner Bros & DC Comics