Zachary Levi let down DC fans even more than both Shazam! 2 and Black Adam combined when he turned up at a Reclaim America rally in late September and announced that he was endorsing Donald Trump. Levi doesn’t exactly have Taylor Swiftian levels of sway, though, so we’re not entirely sure how many people his support will send to the MAGA side. In fact, it’s fair to say his Trump heel-turn has done more damage to his reputation than aided his chosen presidential candidate.
When a clip of Levi, a DC superhero, proudly backing the closest thing we have in real-life to a DC supervillain went viral, many wondered why the Tangled actor would flush his career down the toilet like this. In an unflattering story from The Hollywood Reporter, the real reason for Levi’s surprising turn to the right has allegedly been revealed. And, ironically, the blame may partially rest with Shazam’s arch-enemy, Black Adam himself, Dwayne Johnson.
Zachary Levi’s Trump turn the result of bitterness after his Shazam! dream crashed and burned
A source who’s said to have known Levi for years claimed to THR that the star’s ideological pivot is rooted in his frustrations over the trajectory of his career in recent times. Levi — who chased superhero stardom for years, coming very close to landing Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy — is said to have thought that playing Shazam! was his ticket to the A-list, so he’s supposedly been left “bitter” by the way things haven’t gone as planned.
“When he was cast as Shazam, it was literally his dream. He thought this was his ticket to being The Rock or Chris Evans. But it didn’t happen for him, and he’s bitter about that.”
While we’ll have to take this source’s word for it that Levi actually wanted to be The Rock, we certainly know that he wanted to star opposite him, as the actor has previously admitted that he wanted his Shazam to battle Black Adam but it was Johnson who vetoed the notion in favor of leading his own franchise. Ironically, the end result was the same for both Levi and Johnson, as the two stars were similarly booted from the DC universe once James Gunn and Peter Safran took over.
The difference is that The Rock has his enormous clout to fall back on — on top of Disney’s Moana 2, Johnson is also set to appear this holiday season in action-comedy Red One, opposite Levi’s other figure of envy, Chris Evans. With both Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Harold and the Purple Crayon becoming embarrassing bombs, THR writes that Levi is rebranding himself as a leading man of faith-based productions, with a pair of movies for Christian audiences in the works.
THR floats the idea that Levi’s Trump endorsement might be less of a reputational torpedo and more of a canny rebrand on his part, as it may help his image among the key demo of his upcoming faith films. Maybe, but it’s fair to say a move like this will make it hard for him to appear opposite his poster boys, Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, in Red One 2.
