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Homophobes Are Review Bombing Eternals Because of Gay Hero Phastos
Some folks just can't comprehend the need for diverse, inclusive superhero films...
IMDb was forced to pull negative reviews of Marvel Studios' upcoming title Eternals after the site was filled with comments panning the Chloe Zhao-directed, inclusive superhero film (which hasn't even been released yet).
Many users appear upset the film will feature the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first gay couple, superhero Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) and his husband Ben (Haaz Sleiman).
"I feel lucky, and I'm grateful. And...I don't want to sound arrogant, but I feel like Marvel, they were very smart to cast me in it because I got to humanize the hell out of it," the out, gay actor Sleiman told Out back in September. "I got to humanize an LGBTQ+ family and show how beautiful they are."
That humanization appeared too much for some IMDb users who decided to "review bomb" the film, the practice of flooding review sites with bogus, often baseless, negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes does not permit user reviews prior to a film's opening date to prevent the practice. IMDb does still permit the early user reviews, but was forced to remove negative comments for Eternals to stop the ongoing review bombing of the film.
"If woke and mediocre would be given a medal this would win. 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," one user review was quoted by The Direct. "Not watchable at all."
"Sucky," said another user quoted by The Direct. "Totally unrecognizable from the comics. 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."
According to IMDb's breakdown of its user reviews, the overwhelming majority of reviews came from males by a significant margin, with most reviewers aged 18 to 44 years old. While the negative comments have been pulled, Eternals was still only given an overall, weighted average rating of 5.9 out of 10 stars by users, becoming the lowest-rated film in the entire MCU.
Last month while talking with Variety's The Take, Spencer actress Kristen Stewart had the perfect response for the haters of the gay representation and affirmation featured in Eternals.
\u201cKristen Stewart addresses people who aren\u2019t supportive of LGBTQ+ representation in films like #Eternals: \u201cIf you\u2019re happier & more comfortable looking in the rearview mirror, that is where we\u2019ll leave you.\u201d https://t.co/nz7sU1s8Of | Variety The Take presented by @AppleTV\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1634925171
"I don't know much about the storyline in this one, but I'm glad there's gay people in it," Stewart responded. "I would say you've had your time. If you're happier and more comfortable looking in the rearview mirror, that is where we'll leave you, brah. But yeah, sure, go watch every other movie that hasn't really touched on what we are, and we will just continue growing without you."
Eternals premieres in theaters on Friday, November 5.
