Zachary Levi slams critics for 'insanely unkind' reviews of Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Zachary Levy remains dumbfounded at the reception Shazam! Fury of the Gods received from critics.

In the sequel to Shazam!, Billy Batson and his foster brothers and sisters join forces to take on the Daughters of Atlas. It received mostly negative reviews from critics and was also a box office bomb, earning just $133 million against a budget of $125m.

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The future of the franchise, as well as Levy's future as Shazam! is now in massive doubt after the movie's performance. But the lead star still insists the film was treated too harshly.

"I don't know what the future holds for it all because, unfortunately, the second movie was not as well received," he said on the FilmUp Podcast.

"The audience score is still quite good, but the critics' score was very oddly and perplexingly low, and people were insanely unkind. I'm not saying Shazam! Fury of the Gods is some perfect, Orson Welles-like masterpiece, but it's a good darn movie."

Levy believes that a vendetta from online trolls is ultimately what caused the movie to bomb.

"Hate, online hate and haters and trolls, and factions and all that has just gotten more galvanized in its toxicity," he continued.

"I think there are people who genuinely, unfortunately, want to destroy certain projects because they don't like them, or they don't like me, or they don't like other people involved in them or whatever."

Was Fury of the Gods treated harshly?

It is Levy's hope that Shazam! Fury of the Gods will eventually be viewed upon as a good movie in years to come after the toxicity of the release hampered its initial success.

"I just hope that or believe that history will show... it will be one of those things that people will go back, people will watch Fury of the Gods on home streaming or on a plane or whatever, and it will be this movie that they heard so much s**t about and then they will be like, 'Well, wait a minute,'" he explained.