Guardians Of The Galaxy Director Says Shazam Is The Original Captain Marvel

When Zachary Levi was cast as the lead for Shazam!, he said that it was an honor to bring the original Captain Marvel to life. For some reason, some people took this as a shot at Marvel since the studio is working on a Captain Marvel film with Brie Larson. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn had to point out that Levi was correct since Shazam was originally called Captain Marvel.

Gunn went to Twitter and quickly told off fan sites, telling them that the actor was not throwing shade at Marvel. Not to sound snobby, but anyone who knows their comic book history knows that Levi is right and it wasn't a big deal. It's good seeing someone from Marvel come to the defense of a DCEU star since it makes him less biased.

For those unaware, Captain Marvel was originally a hero under Fawcett Comics. The character appealed to a lot of young children at the time since the lead, Billy Batson, was a child who turned into a superhero by yelling SHAZAM! He was so popular that the original Captain Marvel comics would outsell Batman and Superman, which lead to DC successfully suing Fawcett Comics for the character.

During the lawsuit, Marvel decided to trademark the name Captain Marvel and make their own version of the hero. He was originally a super-powered Kree soldier named Mar-Vell. Carol Danvers is the current user of the Captain Marvel alias, paying tribute to Mar-Vell who gave her these powers. She's easily the most popular Marvel version of the character, with the upcoming film starring Brie Larson as proof.

As of now, Shazam! is still in its early stages of pre-production, and the movie is set to come out April 5, 2019. Captain Marvel is slated for a March 6, 2019, release.

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