I'm going to sound like a grumpy old man here, but so be it. I miss the good old days when you could buy comics or go to the movies without worry of having the ending or major plot points spoiled.
That's that social media has given us. If these so called "news" websites don't spoil character reveals or major plot twists in their headlines or on their web pages, then "fans" are doing it in the comments. Publishers are even listening to these people!
Let's take the recent Captain America debacle. A year back, or so, the Captain America that we're all used to, Steve Rogers, was written out of the character. He lost his abilities and started to age dramatically. Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, took over as the new Captain America. I was not a fan of this, but...you know....whatever, I didn't have to read it, so I didn't. Now, just last year, the original Cap came back after Marvel's Comic Universe reboot. In the second issue of Captain America: Steve Rogers it was revealed that Cap was actually an agent of Hydra, and had been the WHOLE TIME.
So right off the bat hearing this I was like, "bullshit. It's a trick." And I'm talking about the character arch. I, because of reading comics for so long, knew that this wasn't going to last. For some reason, a large part of the population had an enormous problem with this! Veterans, survivors of World War 2, and people claiming to have read Cap stories since the 1940's wrote to Marvel and took to the facebooks to voice their concern.
Seriously? Concern? There was so much backlash, that the story arch was edited to reveal the real twist much earlier than intended! Second issue established Cap's betrayal, then the third issue brought him back. WHAT. THE. HELL? This isn't storytelling! This is pandering to an audience. But I don't blame Marvel, and I don't blame the movie studios when they take over the production of a movie because of internet oversensitivity. Warner Brothers ordered reshoots for Suicide Squad because of the negative backlash from Batman v. Superman. No, I don't blame them. I blame the people and their stupid opinions.
Don't get me wrong. This sensitivity from publishers and movie studios does serve a purpose. It says that they can hear us. BUT, they're still NOT LISTENING! If a studio feels the need to get involved in a project after production has wrapped because of fan reaction from a different movie, that tells me the studio never had real faith in the project to begin with. Marvel Studios is just as much to blame as Warner Brothers. Joss Whedon wouldn't have had so much to cover in Avengers: Age of Ultron if they studio hadn't insisted that he tease Infinity War, Thor 3, Cap 3, and introduce the Infinity Stones! (there were other issues with Ultron, but that's not what I'm talking about today).
Listen, I'm just getting really sick and tired of reading about how people are crying over every little tidbit of information they get. The latest being Zendaya cast as Mary Jane Watson in the new Spider-Man: Homecoming movie. Race is also a major contentious argument. Zendaya being the latest name in the discussion.
Here's the one that really kills me though. So, Marvel has been making a lot of changes these days. Killing off some of their classic iconic characters, and changing some others (like Captain America). The biggest example is Iron Man. Lately in the comics, Tony Stark has been dealing with some...er...issues we'll say, and is side-stepping the spotlight for awhile. This is not a new concept. A lot of times, publishers will take an established character, like Iron Man, and put someone else behind the mask for a time. This has happened to Batman on numerous occasions, in fact, Batman's whole plan revolves around the SYMBOL that he has created. So, now Tony Stark is stepping aside and a 15 year old black girl (being called the smartest person in the Marvel Comics Universe) is taking over the armor.
The outcry over this has become ridiculous. The first argument is people claiming "they're not racist" but then accuse the writers of changing a favorite character's race and gender purely for "diversity". Then there's the complaints that comic companies can't come up with new and original characters, and the people cry about them "ruining their childhood heroes" by changing them. Well, I don't know about you, but I think a 15 year old black girl who creates her own Iron Man-like armor and calling herself Ironheart sounds like a new and original character. I think killing off the Ultimate Universe's version of Peter Parker and handing the mantle of Spider-Man to Miles Morales was a new and original idea for that character years ago. I thought Bruce Wayne asking Jean Paul Valley (aka Azrael) to take over as Batman while he healed from Bane's attack was a fresh idea, as was Dick Grayson taking over as Batman after Bruce Wayne "died" from Darkseid's Omega Beams in the Final Crisis crossover event.
My point is, this happens all of the time. But because people can take to facebook or twitter and immediately voice their opinion, the story suffers. If you're a consistent reader of this blog, then you know how important story is to me, as it should be for everyone.
It's ok to be outraged over a decision made by a company that has created your favorite character, but we should have faith in the story. I can honestly say that I have not read a major comic book title (written by the top writers of both Marvel and DC) and threw it away in disgust. Yes, a lot of sub par story lines have been released in recent years, but the writers and publishers learned their lesson through sale numbers, not internet meme's and facebook arguments.
Bottom line is, everyone needs to just chill the F out and let the creative people do their thing. They got that job for a reason, so let's just see what they can do. If the finished product is something you don't enjoy, that's fine, but it doesn't call for an attempt at public shaming. What happened to Leslie Jones and the cast of the new Ghostbusters is just disgusting. I was against the making of that movie, but Leslie Jones did not deserve the terrible treatment she got.
So what's my point? Well, honestly I severely dislike social media, but it's a necessary evil. It's almost impossible to avoid these days, and people very quickly forget how they make themselves appear to others. Words just can't be read the same way they're meant to be spoken. So go forth and be social. Just try and "be excellent to each other". Have a great day!
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