‘Captain Marvel’ Is Already Being Review Bombed on Rotten Tomatoes

Captain Marvel may be one of 2019’s most-anticipated movies, coming in second only behind Avengers: Endgame according to IMDb, but that isn’t stopping some people on the Internet from trashing the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film on Rotten Tomatoes just a few weeks before it debuts in theaters.

A quick look at the audience reviews page for Captain Marvel over on Rotten Tomatoes has been flooded with negative, angry “reviews” of the film and while there are some genuine comments noting excitement for the film, most have an unsettling common theme: anger about Captain Marvel being centered around a female hero.

A disproportionate number of comments on the review page cite issues with a perception that Captain Marvel is “sexist” for a variety of reasons including but not limited to the gender of primary hero, star Brie Larson’s backing of a campaign to send under privileged girls to see Captain Marvel, and generally a number of trolls complaining that the film is a “social justice warrior” or “SJW” film. Some have even gone so far as to lodge the same complaints about Captain Marvel — which, again, won’t hit theaters for another few weeks and first reactions to the film aren’t set to debut until tomorrow — as a certain subset of “fans” did about Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Sadly, this isn’t the first time a swath of “fans” have attempted to sabotage a new Marvel film. Last February there was an organized effort by disgruntled fans to attack Black Panther with false negative reviews. While those “fans” claimed that their efforts were essentially revenge for poor reviews of Justice League and anger over Star Wars: The Last Jedi, many of the attacks cited complaints about Black Panther being centered around a black superhero. Now, with the false reviews of Captain Marvel also attacking the concept of diversity, be it gender or race-related, it feels a bit like a pattern.

Of course, there’s a positive pattern that could emerge from all of this. Despite the attempted sabotage, Black Panther is the ninth biggest movie at the worldwide box office, with a gross of over $1.3 billion. The film has also been nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture — the first superhero movie to ever be nominated in that category. When it comes to Captain Marvel, the film is currently tracking for a $120 million opening weekend and while that would be a bit shy of Black Panther‘s four-day holiday weekend take last year, it puts it ahead of Iron Man ($98 million) Spider-Man: Homecoming ($117 million) and in contention with Iron Man 2 ($128 million), movies which were all considered very much a success.

What do you think about the fake reviews being posted to Rotten Tomatoes about Captain Marvel? Let us know in the comments below.

Captain Marvel flies into theaters on March 8th.