Hollywood stalwart and fan favorite Vincent D’Onofrio has been around the block enough times to know that fandoms are an obsessive bunch, who will happily latch on to any random comment and build a narrative from it. This is especially true of Marvel lovers, who take obsession to new lengths, driven by the sheer amount of content there is to analyze and discuss. So, he shouldn’t have been too surprised when an ambiguous tweet led to him being bombarded with everything from questions about why Kevin Feige “hates” certain shows, to complaints about the upcoming series Daredevil: Born Again.
To be fair to those replying to him on the newly rebranded X (yes, Twitter, no, not an adult entertainment conglomerate), D’Onofrio’s post was pretty cryptic. He was responding to a tweet that critiqued the MCU’s pulling of the Daredevil series from Netflix, and did so with a couple of simple words: “Patience. Patience…”
Considering the MCU fandom’s love of Easter eggs, puzzles, and secret messaging, it’s no surprise folks ran with this. So, what did this imply? That perhaps Daredevil would be returning to its spiritual home? Or that new casting decisions weren’t the whole picture?
As it turns out, the actor wasn’t on the verge of revealing a secret MCU trade secret, nor was he about to drop a bombshell about how Daredevil was returning to Netflix. The reason behind his post was much simpler than that: he was simply making reference to the fact that viewers should wait to judge the new series. He then went on to discuss the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, and how it meant he wasn’t allowed to talk about anything to do with productions he’s involved in.
In a later, clarifying tweet, the actor wrote:
“Hey everyone, me saying ‘patience, patience’ the other day was just me asking you before you judge to wait and see. Because of the actors strike I can’t be promoting anything at the moment. The Strike rules are strict, clear and appropriate.”
He went on to explicitly address those who’d responded to his original reply:
“Yet it seems you misunderstood my cryptic reply. That is the last thing I will say. You fans are everything to me when it comes to this so I felt you needed an explanation. No one asked me to tweet this.”
In the final section, he discussed just how important the strike was for the industry:
“That’s all i will say now and please remember to respect the writers/actors strike it’s important to a lot of people who are not movie or tv stars. They are hard working people who have been working in careers or building a career in hopes they become more successful like we all have had to do and they need work to raise their families and keep them sheltered. This strike is for them. It truly is. Take the time to get informed if you aren’t. However i do know a lot of you are informed . And it is greatly appreciated. Stand with us. We are standing firm in solidarity.”
Not quite the bombshell some were imagining, but an important and timely message nonetheless.