Zachary Levi Tells DC Fans To Give James Gunn And Peter Safran A Break

James Gunn has stepped in as co-chief to take over the DCEU. At first, fans were excited about this shift. After two excellent "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies put out for Marvel and an impressive resume of whimsical and fantastic projects, including 2021's "The Suicide Squad" and the HBO Max series "Peacemaker." His first two projects in the DCEU turned out to be concise and well-received, so his role in the DCEU has grown exponentially in a short time.

As a talented writer, producer, and director, this should be good for the otherwise struggling DCEU. While the studio puts out decent films, the consistency isn't there. There are several more mediocre or just downright bad films for every good movie. Even good actors who fit their roles have been portrayed in a poor light thanks to subpar writing, like Henry Cavill as Superman. While Cavill was a great embodiment of both Clark Kent and Superman, the films he appeared in were less than spectacular.

Since the hype behind Cavill's return boomed after the release of "Black Adam," fans were disappointed to see him quickly gotten rid of (via Yahoo). Although much of what's being changed is still up in the air, the more news Gunn drops, the more backlash he faces from fans, but one DC star — none other than Shazam himself, Zachary Levi — doesn't agree with all of the hate.

"Shazam!" star, Zachary Levi, took to Instagram Live to discuss his frustrations with the current behavior of DC fans. While he admits to understanding why some people are disappointed with the news of all the changes made by James Gunn and co-chief Peter Safran, he also thinks the extreme backlash is unwarranted and uncalled for. Variety got a transcript of everything Levi said in defense of the new co-chiefs during his Instagram Live.

"You have no idea the reasonings behind any of the decisions that are going on. The amount of conjecture and rumor mill and drama and nonsense that keeps getting spun around out there on Instagram and Twitter is laughable. It is unbelievably laughable," Levi said. He's drawn attention to how little the public actually knows about James Gunn's changes. Since the announcement that Cavill will not be reprising his role as Superman as everyone expected and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson confirmed that Black Adam would not be seen in Gunn's next wave of storytelling, fans have started making a lot of assumptions about what Gunn is and isn't doing.

"So I would just say be patient and give them some space and some time to try and really make something special. And I think something that DC deserves to have and something that [Zack] Snyder tried to do and it just didn't ultimately materialize, guys."

During the Instagram Live, Levi insisted that James Gunn and Peter Safran aren't deciding who to keep and who to let go based on personal bias. It's a lot more complicated than that, but Levi insists that it's about what they believe will make a stronger DCEU that will appeal to a broader audience.

"If you're out there and really like what happened before, you can do that, that's fine. But realize that there's a lot of people who didn't like those things, and we should always be trying to tap into as much audience as possible, make as many people happy as possible," Levi explained. "That's what we're in entertainment for, and that's what I think Peter and James are trying to do. And it's not an easy position, they got handed all these things that were already in a lot of conflict."

It should not come as a huge surprise that Gunn and Safran would prefer to streamline things and start fresh. In this time of uncertainty for the DCEU's future, it's important to remember that it's always been the center of debate and backlash. While DC does deliver some authentically phenomenal movies, it also puts out an alarming amount of duds. Ultimately, the new lead creatives want to provide a bigger and better DCEU for existing movie fans, comic fans, and potential new fans alike.

"Listen, I have no idea what ultimately is going to happen to me. I think I'm in a pretty good position, I think we made a great movie, I think it's going to do well," Levi said. "But again, regardless of that, if they decide at some point that this is the way we gotta go — them's the breaks, that's how it goes."