Eternals Review Bomb Proves Marvel Is On The Right Track

The Eternals review bomb has dropped its audience scores before the movie has even released, but this review bomb and Marvel’s reaction to it are actually a good sign for the MCU’s future. Eternals is the next installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has been much anticipated as the next step in the MCU’s Phase 4. The movie, which is helmed by the Academy Award-winner Chloe Zhao as director and has a star-studded cast, is currently the lowest-rated MCU film on Rotten Tomatoes, but still maintains a “fresh” rating.

Review bombing is the practice of a subgroup of people providing a huge number of negative reviews to a movie before it has been released in an attempt to make producers think that public opinion is against them. The practice is not new and was used against the MCU’s Captain Marvel by people who were angry that they were producing a female-fronted superhero movie, feeling that the focus should remain on male characters. The Eternals review bomb is likely in response to the fact that it promises to be the MCU’s most diverse film to date, with a diverse cast of heroes that includes the first Deaf superhero for the MCU (although Hawkeye is set to confirm Clint Barton as hard of hearing) and the MCU’s first openly gay superhero.

The presence of Phastos, played by Brian Tyree Henry, as the MCU’s first openly gay superhero, who is portrayed with his husband and kids, seems to be the main sticking point for many of the individuals behind the Eternals review bomb. Of the over 400 1-star reviews, many of them reference the fact that the movie includes LGBTQ+ representation and an on-screen gay kiss. Kumail Nanjiani, who plays Kingo in Eternals, tweeted in response to the Eternals review bomb to say, “Looks like we’re upsetting the right people.” Nanjiani is entirely right: this criticism shows that the MCU is finally on the right track with including better diversity. While the studio has previously shied away from explicit inclusion of LGBTQ+ content, their willingness to continue to stand behind Eternals in the face of the criticism from a vocal minority of close-minded individuals shows that the MCU can and will strive further. This is particularly important as it means that more people will get to see people like themselves represented as heroes on screen.

The MCU has taken an exceedingly long time to reach its current point of diversity and has continually been shown up by their competitors as DC has included a wealth of well-drawn LGBTQ+ characters. At the end of the MCU’s Phase 4, after over 20 movies, the Russo brothers finally included a minor gay character in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in Avengers: Endgame. The moment earned headlines with Russo talking about how important the small moment was for representation. Similarly, in Loki season 1, episode 3, “Lamentis,” Loki is mentioned to be canonically LGBTQ+ and on his chart he is noted to be genderfluid. These small moments have gradually led to Disney and Marvel feeling confident enough to put a same-sex kiss on screen and the Eternals review bomb might be disheartening, but it's a good sign for the MCU continuing to slowly improve its diverse storytelling and casting.

An oft-cited reason for the MCU not including queer characters has been that they receive a large portion of their movie revenue through the Chinese market and the Chinese government insists on censoring LGBTQ+ content from movies. Chloe Zhao has said that she is hopeful that Marvel Studios will not allow the movie to be censored for overseas audiences. By including Phastos as a gay superhero and weathering the Eternals review bomb by standing behind the film, Disney and Marvel are putting their money where their mouth is on their repeated claims to want to introduce more diverse characters. The trend looks set to continue for the MCU as Thor: Love & Thunder is expected to include an LGBTQ+ storyline for Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie as she searches for a queen.

Next: How Eternals' Initial Rotten Tomatoes Score Compares to the Rest of the MCU