This was such a common problem in my undergrad. I'd say over half of all incoming majors had at least some form of miss-understanding of what physics was and how it really worked coming off of pop sci. Even those who stick it out through Grad School and post docs often lament that they toiled away always believing that the grandiose visions of research presented in pop sci would eventually come true for them.

While pop-sci has been radically successful at making physics concepts appear accessible, it has woefully failed at making actual physics accessible. It's no wonder that Americans increasingly view science as either the tony stark like practice of wizards - or as a ceremonious endeavor practiced by those whose beliefs are no more testable than a TV pundits.

We need to do better at Science writing.