David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! might be one of the best-reviewed and most profitable entries in the entire DCU, but history is unlikely to remember it as an all-time great of the genre. On the other hand, Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie is a cultural monolith that reinvented the entirety of blockbuster cinema.
Other than being the opening cinematic salvos for a pair of superheroes who enjoy tights, flights, and wearing capes while maintaining dual identities, there aren’t a lot of direct comparisons that can be made between the two. And yet, one of the most terrible takes you’re ever likely to hear has decreed that an a stone-cold classic that stands the test of time, altered the very complexion of the industry, and laid down a playbook that comic book adaptations still utilize today doesn’t hold up.
While everyone is unquestionably entitled to their own opinion, claiming that Superman: The Movie would be viewed in the same light as Shazam! were it released today is ludicrously stupid. The latter is a fun little flight of fancy that delivers plenty of candy-colored entertainment, whereas the former endures as one of the most influential, inspirational, and game-changing slices of big budget cinema there’s ever been.
The divisions among the DC fandom at large has thrown up no shortage of spicy opinions, but this has got to be one of the most ridiculous we’ve ever heard. Then again, it’s to be expected from someone who claimed “Unbiased Snyder Fan” as their Twitter handle, because everyone knows there aren’t many of them to be found anywhere.
