Kevin Smith clarified that no one is paying him for any of his opinions, after some fans accused him of being in Marvel's pocket. Dubbed one of the poster boys of the thriving comic fan community, Smith has been very vocal about his views, especially regarding both the MCU and the DCEU.

With comic book movies dominating Hollywood, fans are continuously treated to superhero films from various studios regularly, mostly from either Marvel or DC. The current talk of the town is Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson, after its first trailer debuted last week, and as usual, people from the geek community offered their own sentiments about the teaser, fostering discussions among themselves. However, Smith didn't exactly have a grand time online, after some accused him of getting money from Marvel to praise said trailer.

On the latest episode of his podcast, Fatman Beyond, Smith addressed the issue, and strongly denied that he's being paid by Marvel in exchange for good press. At the same time, he also called out internet trolls who continue to subscribe to this idea, after he received a social media message accusing him of such behavior following his review of the Captain Marvel trailer.

"I'm just going to say this. I thought it would go without saying, I thought I'd never have to say this, but I saw a tweet today cause I retweeted the f***ing trailer for Captain Marvel and talked about how I dug and sh*t like f**king taking every nickel I have, Marvel and there was like a couple people like most people 'you're f***ing right! F***king Kev well-said, lead us to the promised land!' you know, everyone on the same page. But there was a very small percentage, about five tweets, going like 'how much are they paying you to say this bullshit, man? Are you shilling for Marvel?' And I just want to f***ing record saying you're crazy if you think Marvel has to pay anybody to say something nice about them or to hip people to movies that are coming particularly to an audience that's pre-sold."

"I'll just flat out deny it. I'll be honest, nobody f***king pays me to say nice things. If they do, I'll let you know. I just like to talk about the sh*t I like to talk about and that f***ing trailer I dug. I was like 'oh sh*t! F***ing A I can't wait!' and guess like some people if they don't react to it they think like you must be paid by these fools. I'm just enthusiastic, I swear to you I don't get any f***ing money. They don't have to pay me. That's the beauty of f***ing fandom, man. They figured out a long time ago how to harness the fan base, they'll do all the work for us. I'm just a little more high profile and vociferous than the average f***ing bear, but no. Nobody has ever f***ing given me a dime to say any nice things or to say any of the things that I say."


The sad truth is, Smith isn't the only one who gets accused of supposedly taking bribes from Disney and Marvel. One look at any social media platform, and it's difficult not to see something similar to the messages that Smith got. What people tend to forget is that it's been 10 years since the MCU launched, and over those years, the franchise has had its ups and downs. It's just that, at this point, they've pretty much figured out what their target audience wants. Admittedly, the MCU is not everyone's cup of tea, and that's fine, but to shame anyone who's open about liking what they put out in their cinematic universe is totally wrong.

Despite this controversy, Smith will continue to be a huge part of the world of superheroes onscreen. Aside from being a fan, he's been involved in several projects, having directed episodes of both Supergirl and The Flash. He even hosted the premiere of DC Daily, DC Universe's daily streaming news show. When looked at that way, accusations of Smith being biased toward Marvel Studios become even less credible, as if anything, one would think his bias would lean toward the company giving him so many jobs.