Marvel superheroes are coming to their costar Chris Pratt's rescue after Twitter dubbed him the worst Hollywood Chris.
The Avengers assembled Tuesday in response to an age-old popularity contest between actors Pratt, Chris Pine, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth that recently resurfaced along with an overwhelming consensus to vote Pratt off Hollywood Chris Island.
The Hollywood Chris debate is a running joke among Twitter users _ mostly highlighting the absurd existence of four famous Chrises that bear a striking resemblance to one another. But Disney actors Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana and Robert Downey Jr. took the social media slight against their friend very seriously.
"You all, @prattprattpratt is as solid a man there is," Ruffalo, who plays Bruce Banner _ aka Hulk _ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, tweeted in an effort to redirect his followers' focus to the upcoming presidential election.
"I know him personally, and instead of casting aspersions, look at how he lives his life. He is just not overtly political as a rule. This is a distraction. Let's keep our eyes on the prize, friends. We are so close now."
Saldana, who plays Gamora opposite Pratt's Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord) in Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise, also weighed in, citing an inspirational quote from late hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur.
"No matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out, keep your head up and handle it," she tweeted. "You got this @prattprattpratt. Your family, friends, colleagues & everyone who's ever crossed paths with you knows your heart and your worth!"
And Downey, who launched the MCU as Tony Stark's Iron Man, shared a behind-the-scenes photo of himself and Pratt chilling on the set of an Avengers movie with a caption possibly alluding to some common criticisms of his costar _ who has rejected accusations that he belongs to a church with anti-LGBTQ views.
Pratt also received some heat this month for skipping a Marvel star-studded fundraiser for the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign attended by Downey, Saldana, Ruffalo, Tom Holland, Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson and his fellow Hollywood Chris, Evans.
"What a world," Downey wrote Tuesday. "The 'sinless' are casting stones at my #brother, Chris Pratt ... A real #Christian who lives by #principle, has never demonstrated anything but #positivity and #gratitude AND he just married into a family that makes space for civil discourse and (just plain fact) INSISTS on service as the highest value."
"If you take issue with Chris,,, I've got a novel idea. Delete your social media accounts, sit with your OWN defects of #character, work on THEM, then celebrate your humanness ... "
Speaking of that family Pratt married into, Katherine Schwarzenegger also came to her husband's defense in the comment section of an Instagram post about the Hollywood Chris saga. The animal rights activist and children's book author, who welcomed her first child with Pratt earlier this year, is the daughter of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger and granddaughter Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
"Is this really what we need?" Schwarzenegger wrote. "There's so much going on in the world and people struggling in so many ways. Being mean is so yesterday."
The latest Hollywood Chris drama can be traced back to an Oct. 17 tweet from screenwriter Amy Berg, who posted photos of Pratt, Pine, Evans and Hemsworth with the simple caption, "One has to go" _ and you can probably guess who racked up the most nominations in the replies.
Notably absent from the conversation so far are Marvel actors and Hollywood Chrises Hemsworth and Evans, as well as Pratt himself, who has yet to remark publicly on the situation.
