Chris Pratt faces new Twitter hostility — this time for not being Jack Black

Chris Pratt has again found himself on the receiving end of a Twitter pile-on for no pressing reason — other than that some people decided to post comments on how Jack Black would have been better than Pratt at playing Peter Quill in “Guardians of the Galaxy” and in other films.

Tenacious D, with Jack Black, at a benefit for the Los Angeles Big Brothers and Big Sisters at Moomba, West Hollywood, Ca. Monday, Sept. 9, 2002. Photo by Kevin Winter/ImageDirect. 

As things go on the internet, these tweets launched hundreds of others, many of which focused on the idea of praising Black while disparaging Pratt, who in October was on the receiving end of another torrent of negative comments about being Hollywood’s “worst Chris.”

It’s not entirely clear why Twitter users late Wednesday and early Thursday focused on pitting Black, 51, against Pratt, 41, other than that both are beefy A-list actors known for their charisma and roguish charm. But as fans called Black sexy and praised him for his musical ability and his acting talent and range, they also revived the internet trend of “hating” on Pratt.

Back in October, this anti-Pratt sentiment flared after a producer Amy Berg posted a picture of the “Four Hollywood Chrises” and encouraged people to pick who’s the best Chris and who’s the worst and who, therefore, needs “to go.” The four Hollywood Chrises, by the way, are Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Chris Pine and Chris Pratt. The internet swarm began, with people picking Pratt as the one who needed to go.

For context, the Hollywood Chris contest happened to hit in the final weeks before the Nov. 3 election, so it appeared that people’s pre-election anxiety made Pratt the red-hot focus of a cultural debate about his suspected conservative politics and religious beliefs.

Pratt had been previously criticized for his reluctance to confirm whether he holds conservative political views, even as he has famously political in-laws (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver) who, with his wife, Katherine Scharzenegger, expressed strong anti-Trump views. Meanwhile, Pratt was forced to publicly defend his association with Hillsong, a celebrity-friendly evangelical church whose leaders have espoused anti-LGBTQ views in the past.

The antipathy toward Pratt grew after his “Avengers” co-stars, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo, stepped in to defend him. The “Avenger” bros both posted messages on social media, lecturing their millions of fans about how Pratt is really a good guy who is deserving of Christian charity and tolerance.

Downey, especially, adopted a self-righteous tone, and ripped into Pratt’s critics, writing on Instagram: “What a world… 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. … Delete your social media accounts, sit with your OWN defects of #character, work on THEM, then celebrate your humanness.”

Ruffalo added more gently on Twitter: “You all, @prattprattpratt is as solid a man there is. 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.”

But instead of winning people to their view that Pratt is an unfair target of cancel culture, Downey, Ruffalo and Pratt’s other “Avengers” defenders — Jeremy Renner, Zoe Saldana and James Gunn — only seemed to give people more reasons to be suspicious of their friend and to dislike him even more. People also wondered why the Marvel stars expressed so much concern about attacks on Pratt, a male colleague, when they apparently never spoke up for female co-stars, including Brie Larson, who became targets for daily cyberbullying and death threats.

People’s enmity towards Pratt resurfaced Wednesday in the Black vs. Pratt discussion, with YA fantasy author Kayla Ancrum apparently getting the ball rolling by tweeting:

Ancrum also said Black could have easily played Pratt’s Star Lord in “Guardians of the Galaxy” and is a “good serious actor” who brings “a lot of tender-soft boy energy to serious roles.”

The pro-Black tweets rolled in, with many also taking aim at Pratt as people referenced the actors’ best-known film roles, including Black’s role in “School of Rock,” his rom-com turn in “Holiday” and Pratt’s role in “Jurassic World.”

Several people, though, jokingly warned about the consequences of inciting a Pratt pile-on because it would prompt his “Avengers” co-stars to rush to defend their friend again.

But if Pratt’s “Avenger” stars have yet to speak out, the actor’s fans were ready to defend him:

As of Wednesday morning, neither Black nor Pratt (nor their representatives) had yet to comment on the Black/Pratt discussion. But one fan pointed out that the actors probably have better things to do right now and are blissfully unaware: