Trolls Are Already Review Bombing Captain Marvel on Rotten Tomatoes

February 20, 2019

Captain Marvel is already getting review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the next film on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s docket will officially introduce Brie Larson as Carol Danvers – the franchise’s first female headlining hero who happens to also be the most powerful one. Teased in the post-credits scene for Avengers: Infinity War, the upcoming movie will serve as the character’s origin story.

Taking place in 1995, the film will predate the events of Iron Man, which kicked off the franchise in 2008. Given the time period, Captain Marvel will feature (still two-eyed) Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) at the time when they were still young S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. Incorporating the Kree-Skrull war into the narrative, it’ll also introduce key players from both sides of the conflict like like members of Starforce, Yon Rogg (Jude Law), and Talos – Ben Mendelsohn‘s Skrull leader. With Marvel studios taking a step toward the right direction with regard to adding more female presence in the MCU, many are eagerly anticipating what the movie will add to the franchise’s lore. Unfortunately, not everyone is happy about this move.

A peek at Captain Marvel‘s Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews reveals a slew of hateful comments left not just about the film but also about Larson herself. Most of the trolls’ comments are about Larson being a vocal feminist and how this movie pushes feminism to the forefront of the MCU. Because of this, they assume that the movie will ruin the franchise – with most of them announcing that they won’t be watching it in theaters. Obviously, one could argue that people expressing these opinions before Captain Marvel has even been released to theaters had no intention of ever seeing it to begin with.

Over the last couple of years, the public has seen this collective move from online trolls bashing films because they don’t like the message that their narratives convey. Disney’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi was one of the first blockbusters to be prominently targeted by review bombing after members of its fandom didn’t like how Luke (Mark Hamill) was written in the story. The trolling became so toxic that it drove some of its stars like Kelly Marie Tran and Daisy Ridley off of social media after being harassed online. Last year, Black Panther also went through a similar thing with the shut down of a Facebook group page recruiting members to sabotage the film’s audience score. Fortunately, from the looks of it, this take-down job is backed only by a small but vocal number of people, with Captain Marvel still tracking for a solid $100 million opening weekend.

Larson has been very outspoken about social and cultural issues since long before she was cast as Carol Danvers and chances are this specific trait was one of the things that put her on Marvel Studios’ radar (aside from her Oscar-winning acting skills). Knowing how important Carol’s story is in the pages of the comics, the franchise needs someone who has the same female confidence on the big screen to effectively translate the character to film. The introduction of Larson as the titular lead in Captain Marvel will not ruin the franchise just because she’s a woman, no matter how much some persistent trolls might argue otherwise.

Source: screenrant.com

Written by: New Generation Radio