Marvel Studios' Eternals is under attack but not from the Deviants, but from the act of review bombing. Eternals is the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is one of the most anticipated films for many as it is the first MCU film with an Academy Award-winning director at the helm and an all-star cast. So far, a select group has seen the movie at premieres, and reviews are currently on the mixed to positive side with it now sitting at the lowest rated MCU film on Rotten Tomatoes, but still a fresh rating.

Eternals is set to feature a lot of firsts for the MCU. Kevin Feige, director Chloé Zhao, and the studio have talked much about the film's diverse cast and strives for inclusion as it will include the first openly gay superhero in the MCU (Brian Tyree Henry's Phastos) and the first deaf superhero (Lauren Ridloff's Makkari). Zhao has even said she hopes that Marvel Studios does not censor the movie for overseas audiences. Marvel Studios is making an active effort to make their films more accessible and diverse so that everyone can see themselves reflected as a superhero.

Related: Why Eternals' Early Reviews Are So Mixed

It appears a subset of people have taken issue with this and brought it upon themselves to review bomb the film. The Direct reports that IMDb's rating for Eternals was flooded with negative reviews a week before the film's theatrical release, with over 400 1-star reviews. A common point of criticism among those leaving negative reviews is the inclusion of a gay kiss and the film's LGBTQIA+ representation. IMDb has since removed the audience rating section of Eternals until after the film's theatrical release when an audience has actually seen it.

Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos Eternals

Review bombing, the act of a large group of people making a coordinated effort on review forums to give negative reviews to a product (often without having seen it) to give the impression of a negative public perception, is sadly nothing new. Rotten Tomatoes removed their audience score after a similar coordinated attack happened on Captain Marvel, Marvel's first female-led project. Projects like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, 2016's Ghostbusters reboot, and recently, Kevin Smith's Masters of the Universe: Revelation, all received similar review bombing efforts from a subset of the audience who took umbrage with a progressive message in the story.

The thoughts of those committing the review bombing only make up a small group of people that rarely translate to general public discourse. Despite the attempts to make Captain Marvel look like film audiences hated, it grossed $426 million at the domestic box office, over $1 billion worldwide, and became the fifth highest-grossing film of 2019 worldwide. Star Wars: The Last Jedi grossed $1.333 billion worldwide and was the highest-grossing film at the 2017 domestic and worldwide box office. Marvel Studios doesn't appear to have been deterred by the reaction to Eternals, particularly from an audience that has not seen it yet, and has indicated this is only the beginning of a more inclusive and global MCU.

Next: How The Eternals Escaped Thanos' Infinity War Snap

Source: The Direct

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