Marvel's Eternals, which hits screens next week, will be the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to feature a title gay superhero character in a same-sex relationship.
And while LGBTQ+ fans eagerly anticipated witnessing a celebratory milestone, trolls opposed to the representation slammed the film online with a barrage of one-star reviews ahead of its November 5 release in U.S. theaters.
The 26th Marvel film is about the titular immortal alien race who for thousands of years has fought to protect planet Earth from their evil counterparts, the Deviants.
Eternals was directed and co-written by Academy Award-winning director, Chloé Zhao, who won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture for 2020's Nomadland.
The superhero film boasts a star-studded cast, featuring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Harish Patel, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie.
Henry plays "Phastos," an Eternal who is in a long-term relationship with another man on Earth and with whom he has a young son.
When word got out about the LGBTQ+ representation and a gay superhero kiss was in the film, homophobic fans review-bombed it on its IMDb page.
"Review-bombing" is a form of online protest by large groups of people objecting to a movie's themes and issues and leaving unfounded, low-rated reviews on various movie forums.
There were over 450 one-star reviews for Eternals before the film premiered to the general public.
According to The Direct, one user called the film, "woke and mediocre."
The reviewer additionally wrote:
"C mon marvel , this was cheap even for you, such a crappy movie like this could be done only with angelina jolie and her style of making amendments to movies....... Not watchable at all."
Most of these "reviewers" leave scathing reviews without bothering to see the film they are trashing.
Another called the still to-be-released film, "sucky" and "totally unrecognizable from the comics" adding:
"All it does is tick all the Hollywood Woke boxes. Which seems to be the goal. Not storytelling."
"But that's hardly surprising these days. Don't waste your money. It's not worth it."
IMDb removed all the negative reviews on the basis many of the reviewers who took issue with the inclusion of a prominent gay character had never seen the movie.
The Direct shared a screenshot of the Eternals' IMDb review page, prior to the removal of the one-star reviews.
The Direct
The website plans to reopen the reviews section after the film has opened to the general public.
When cast member Kumail Nanjiani—who went through an impressive physical transformation to play his character Kingo—heard about the review-bombing ordeal because of an openly gay character in the film, he gave a curt response.
He tweeted:
"Looks like we're upsetting the right people."
Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel, also weighed in on the debut of a primary gay character in the film, saying it is "just the start of equal representation in the MCU."
"There have been gay superheroes in the comics," he told Variety's Marc Malkin on the red carpet at the film's world premiere on October 18.
"It is more than past time in the movies."
Haaz Sleiman, who came out as gay in 2017 and plays Phastos' husband Ben, also attended the premiere and talked about the impact the film will have on the younger LGBTQ+ generation.
"It's lifesaving. I wish I had that when I was a kid growing up to see this. My God, I wish. Can you imagine how many lives this is going to be saving?"
"Kids, young queer folks who are either being bullied, committing suicide, not seeing themselves represented and now they get to see this. It's above and beyond."
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