Thanos may have departed the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but his Infinity War rages on as the first official trailer for The Marvels finds the fandom split directly down the middle.
Over on Marvel’s official Instagram account, the studio shared the trailer with its 38.4 million followers, and within a matter of minutes, the opinions started pouring on. On one side of the spectrum, fans are showering the movie with early praise, while on the other side, people are labeling it an immediate flop. And then somewhere in the middle of those two camps are intolerant trolls who have launched a renegade against the all-female film.
“This is looks worse than “Love and thunder”. I hope I’m wrong,” moaned Instagram user @_nolasco12.
“Another movie I have 0 interest in watching,” complained @cjmyers80.
“Looks… mediocre, maybe I’ll watch it when it comes to Disney+.” wrote @leo.henriques09.
“Looks awful” said @itsabhi_sr.
“This movie gon suck,” said @oruchayaenthusiast.
The reluctance to believe The Marvels will perform better than the recent slate of MCU movies is understandable given the franchise has been on a noticeable decline in recent years. The utter catastrophe that was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania doesn’t help either, but by the time The Marvels premiers in theaters, fans will have watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which hits the public on May 5. Moral could see an upward swing if the movie performs well.
“Ok I think I’m gonna enjoy this!! And I like the “Intergalactic” remix on this, makes it feel fun,” said @hesmakesmusic.
“THIS IS GONNA BE SO GOOD so happy to see Kamala, Carol, and Monica,” said @_justkeymarie.
“THIS LOOKS PHENOMENAL,” said @drewmasseyy.
“This trailer looks so amazing! Can’t wait!” said @melthemischievous.
“Ok this concept is actually sick,” said @knz_lntz34
“Now this promises to resuscitate MCU!” said @prashanthgofficial.
Unfortunately, amidst the praise and the skepticism is a concerning number of hateful comments not directed at the film, per se, but at what it represents. Despite only showcasing around two minutes of footage, The Marvels is being labeled a bomb, but it only takes a quick glance to realize where those comments are coming from. Or who they’re coming from, we should say.
“Why only Womens?” said @chilli_fade.
“Another sudo Feministic sh*tt on the way” said @_callmearun.
“This movie gonna be so Woke, Its gonna put me to sleep,” said @theramyera.
Thankfully, the fandom is also comprised of level-headed people like Instagram user @jb3mariano who call a spade a spade when they see it: “So many pathetic a** comments on this. Go outside, touch some grass and stop screaming woke at anything you don’t like.”
At its core, the comments section of Marvel’s Instagram post bears a striking resemblance to the zeitgeist within the MCU fandom at the moment — barring the bigoted trolls who can’t stand to see people who aren’t male or white (or both) succeed. There’s pressure for the film to succeed, and not just to prove the trolls wrong, but also to plug what feels like a hole in Marvel’s sinking ship.
Due to Marvel’s recent release shake-up, The Marvels isn’t scheduled to premiere in theaters until Nov. 10, which means we have seven more months of conversations like this.