Zachary Levi is not wrong when he refers to Shazam as the original Captain Marvel, and James Gunn made it a point to mention that in his recent tweet.
Soon after Zack Snyder’s Justice League and James Wan’s Aquaman hit the theaters, the DCU will turn its attention to the filming of David F. Sandberg’s Shazam with Levi playing the title role. After the report that confirmed the casting of Zachary Levi, the actor took to Twitter to share his thoughts and referred to his character as the original Captain. Levi tweeted, “Honored and greatly humbled to be a part of the #dcuniverse by bringing the original Captain.”
However, some MCU fans find this an insult since they have their own Captain Marvel essayed by Brie Larsson. Gunn, well-known for his 2014 release Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel’s 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 tried to explain to the fans about the factual truth in Levi referring to his character as Captain Marvel. The director tweeted, “Fan sites: @ZacharyLevi calling Shazam “the original Captain Marvel” is not throwing shade at Marvel. He IS the original Captain Marvel.”
Now, if you were to trace back the history, you will realize that neither Zachary Levi nor James Gunn is wrong in referring to Shazam as the original Captain Marvel and here’s why.
Billy Batson (Shazam) was a character created in 1939 by Parker and C.C. Beck for Fawcett Comics. Shazam, the character, first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 in February 1940 as the original Captain Marvel. Later DC Comics sued Fawcett Comics for ripping off Superman because of which the publisher closed in 1953. DC, in the year 1972 acquired Fawcett’s intellectual property, and that included Captain Marvel. However, by that time Marvel Comics came up with its own Captain Marvel and trademarked the name. DC was hence not allowed to use the name anymore, and that’s how they decided to market the character with the name Shazam.
Shazam is expected to hit the theaters in April 2019. Check out the tweets by Zachary Levi and James Gunn below:
Honored and greatly humbled to be a part of the #dcuniverse by bringing the original Captain… https://t.co/CZIPJMAlkD
— Zacovfefe (@ZacharyLevi) October 28, 2017
Fan sites: @ZacharyLevi calling Shazam “the original Captain Marvel” is not throwing shade at Marvel. He IS the original Captain Marvel.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) November 1, 2017
Source: Zachary Levi/James Gunn
