Forget Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the cast and crew of Shazam! have faced the fury of the fans since the DC sequel released last month to both underwhelming reviews and poor box office. Not only has director David F. Sandberg had to field endless hate from trolls, but the titular superhero team-leader himself Zachary Levi has taken it upon himself to (unsuccessfully, it has to be said) turn the tide against the movie single-handed thanks to a stream of suspect social media posts.
Unfortunately, Levi’s facing another loss from the superhero crowd as Twitter appears to be unanimously declaring the MCU’s shortest-lived hero better than Shazam. User @conquerorcomics went viral for sharing their love of Anson Mount’s performance as Black Bolt in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Star Trek; Strange New Worlds icon made quite the impression on viewers despite not uttering a line of dialogue and swiftly being killed off by Scarlet Witch.
“Anson Mount’s performance in this single shot alone was better than anything Zachary Levi ever did as Shazam,” went their claim. A cruel comparison? Shazam loyalists might say so, but the almost-two thousands likes the tweet has accrued suggests t’s one many agree with.
Comparing Shazam and Black Bolt might seem rather random, but actually the pair make an interesting case study as the characters have had the exact opposite arcs in terms of public opinion. 2019’s Shazam! was universally praised, only for Fury of the Gods to retroactively make it one of DC’s least popular franchises, Mount’s Blackagar Boltagan was initially nothing more than the lead of ABC’s infamously awful Inhumans TV series, but his Doctor Strange 2 opened him up to a whole new audience of fans. Now folks would love to see him return to his role a third time.
Levi’s future in the rebooted DCU, meanwhile, remains to be seen, although perhaps the star’s friendship with bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran might help his chances.
Published: Apr 3, 2023 06:22 am